The Teachings of the Bow hero
by NorthSouthGorem
Summary: Nick Ward has been around the block a few times with this whole Isekai thing. Getting summoned to a fantasy world with a legendary weapon? Is it Monday already? But why is he stuck with three newbies? OP OC, AUs, crossovers, CYOAs
1. The Most Dangerous Game of All

AN: So here we have a whole new fic idea. My FF account has gotten a tad lifeless, what with me focusing on…different, fics. So, while I try and kludge together a new Waking Dreamer or other chapter, have a fic for Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari.

"Speech"  
Text/System  
_Thoughts_  
_Mental communication_  
**Accursed/Divine**  
**Attack/Spell/Skill**

Chapter 1: The Most Dangerous Game of All

"**Oho, he's waking up! Welcome back, Nicky~"**

Nick Ward groaned, sitting up in his chair, only to hunch over and grab his head. "Every time…izzat you, Risk?"

"**Eeeeyep~"**

"Fan-fucking-tastic. Did I die again?" he sighed, not even opening his eyes as he rubbed at his stubbled jaw.

"**Yepyep! You did well this time. In fact, you passed with flying colors."**

He opened his eyes to see a woman bending over him. Her platinum hair bounced around her in almost tangled curls as she grinned manically in his face. Her eyes shone brightly with excitement, but also an endless swirl of colors that made him distinctly uncomfortable, no matter how many times he saw them. She wore a dark, frilly dress, a section cut out along her stomach and bust, and a slit exposing one of her long legs. Her strange, almost artificially glossy skin shifted tone and color every so often, whenever his attention strayed. Her small hands, gloved in black velvet, grabbed at his, pulling him to his feet before he could resist.

The two of them stood upon a brightly lit stage, with a large screen on the back wall that was currently blank. In fact, every time he'd found himself on that stage, Nick had never seen the screen turned on. He had very little doubt as to what it would show, however. No matter how much he squinted, he could never see the audience beyond the glare of the foot-lights, but he could hear them, moving about and murmuring to themselves.

"Flying colors, huh?" he echoed, finally answering her, "Does that mean you'll let me quit now?"

He knew her reply before she gave it, frowning with mock-sternness. **"Nope. Sorry Nick, but Lady Glory said that the need for Adventure can only-"**

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he sighed, waving her off, "I don't even mind the adventures anymore. I'm talking about getting dragged up in front of the crowd. My last life had total stage fright, ya know?"

There came a laugh from the audience, causing a phantom shudder to run down his spine.

"Where is Her Gloriousness, anyway? I would've thought she'd be around like all the other times."

The goddess of fortune gave a slightly unhinged giggle, smiling impishly. **"She's just sulking because I finally won our contest."**

Nick frowned. A contest between goddesses? Goddesses who constantly played with his soul like a marionette to put on shows for countless other deities? A sense of dread filled his stomach. "…What contest?"

Risk smiled. Somewhat reassuringly, it was more genuine. **"Oh, before we send you off on to your next world, Glory and I have a little game to see which of us gets to give you your initial blessings."** She pouted, skin turning creamy. **"She kept winning, though. Stupid heroic plot armor…"**

"And this time…?" he asked slowly, carefully.

She beamed at him. Winking and twirling to face the audience, she pulled a microphone out of nowhere and called into it. **"DEITIES AND DEMIGODS! Before the next round of our lovely show, we're going to changing things up a little. For those of you who just joined our production, Nick Ward,"** she indicated him, making him cringe, **"Is our latest mortal soul to take on our grueling gauntlet of glorious adventures. His deeds, both good and bad, earn him Karma that keeps him going from life to life, until finally he earns the right to stand among us!"**

A smattering of applause and cheers issued from the shadowed crowd.

"**Now, ordinarily my fellow host, Glory, would be the one to grant young Nick a powerful boon to take into his next life, but only one-time!"** Then she grinned, and Nick's blood ran cold as her teeth seemed to sharpen. **"But when you run a show as long as this, the status quo cannot go unchallenged! O Esoterica and Elementals, I am the goddess of Fortune! Call me Risk! Call me Chance! Call me Catastrophe and Opportunity! And I'd like to give Nicky-boy here the chance to show us some good ol' **_**fun!"**_

As Nick watched, wondering how jaded he was with her antics that he wasn't running screaming, a spotlight suddenly shone on a small cart, which he was certain hadn't been there before. It was laden with scrolls of various size, all sealed with ribbons or wax.

"**A lot of you ladies and gentle-gods might be familiar with these already,"** admitted Risk nodding in a random direction, **"And I have been **_**longing**_** for the chance to use them on our very own show. That's right, dear audience! The Gauntlet of Lives shall now be partnering with the god-maker itself, the CYOA~!"**

There came a thunderous cacophony of applause, delighted laughter, and more than a few shouts of dismay.

"**That's right, everyone! I'm giving Nick Ward the **_**chance**_** to choose what sorts of powers he'll have this time around. And better yet, these choices will be persistent from here on out!"**

Suddenly Nick was a _lot_ more interested in this grandstanding. If there was one thing that Glory and Chance did well, it was giving him power. As much as he disliked having to act as an interdimensional gladiator at the whims of the gods, he had to admit: he _liked_ power. Of course, some lifetimes had proved better than others, but every time, he had been forced to give up his previous boons, only keeping the sweet, sweet memories of life and love that had been given to him.

Risk was still talking. **"And of course, thanks to the last round, he has earned quite a bit of Karma to take a number of CYOAs in a row!"**

Even as there came a number of indistinct murmurs, she switched off the microphone and walked towards the cart, beckoning for him to follow.

"Awfully generous of you," he muttered to her, even as he took up a position next to it, "Lemme guess, I gotta pick some of these scrolls without knowing what's inside?"

She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at him. **"That's right. With your current Karma, I'll let you take four scrolls."**

He nodded, choosing not to question whether the sizes made any difference; half a dozen lives had taught him that Risk was a mercurial mistress. Thus, to appease her, he grabbed four smaller scrolls at random, figuring that even if they weren't all that helpful, it would give him an idea of how these 'CYOAs' worked.

At an eager nod from the goddess, he cracked the seal on one and unrolled the scroll. Inside were the words Adventurer Meta CYOA

"**Oooh, that's a good one!"** said Risk, keeping her back to the audience as she peered over his shoulder, **"Technically it's unfinished, though, but in your case, Fortune smiles on you! Everything in there is free; just choose which Class to start with."**

Nick's jaw dropped as he read through the options listed. _I'm getting _all_ of these?! And they'll stick around?! And there's four more scrolls like these?!_ Shaking his head so as to remind himself not to get cocky, he squinted at the bottom, where it listed three vague 'Classes' for him to specialize in. A note above the section mentioned that it would not be impossible to dip into the other classes later on, so he decided to go with Mage. In many lives, magic was always a powerful tool to have in one's arsenal.

As he did so, that option glowed with blue fire, though he was far too used to supernatural happenings to be surprised by it. Rolling up the scroll and handing it to Risk, he opened the next one.

Isekai Genie CYOA

This one, it seemed, was a little more balanced. Instead of getting anything for free, he would have to choose four of the options on offer.

"**Normally it's three, but I'm lettin' you use four."**

"Ah. Well, thank-"

"**In exchange, I'll be in charge of designing your body this time."**

_Oh fuck no._

He had to keep himself from cursing her out, instead just giving her a 'swallowed lemon' look, to which she giggled back.

Growling, he made his choices, four squares igniting with blue flames. Aurora Fantasia, Mantle of Chiron, Cornucopic Body and Key to the Genie's Marketplace.

His reasons were quite simple: making magic items more powerful (along with making his own) would always give him another ace up his sleeve, finding and training people with potential would only make his inevitable job easier, training without diminishing returns was a no-brainer, and a market full of any items or services he could imagine was absolutely _ridiculous._

The next CYOA made him raise his eyebrows. Planar Travel Agency? He glanced questioningly at her. She shrugged back. He frowned, but made his choices. It might be nice to have some convenient options in case he ever got the opportunity to world-jump on his own. No more dropping in and having to struggle without the locals' common sense, or having to worry about a language barrier.

The final CYOA piqued his interest. Socket: Magic Gem. This felt like the sort of thing that Glory might give him during one of his past lives. Smiling, he made his starting choices, feeling a bit more carefree this time; after all, like the Adventurer Meta, he would be free to unlock the other choices later on with time.

Once he was done, he nodded to Risk. She grinned and, dropping the scrolls on the ground, clapped her hands, whereupon they all burst into flames. **"And there we have it!"** she called out to the audience, her microphone miraculously back in her hand, **"Sorry to keep you waiting, folks, but the next round will be starting momentarily!"**

Nick grimaced as she held up a coin. He knew what was coming next. With an audible *PING!* she flipped it into the air, letting it flash and spin. Before it could land, however, the flames suddenly surged forward and engulfed him.

TBH

Even as he flinched, raising his arms to shield himself, he felt a sickening lurch in his stomach, making his knees buckle. Being used to this sensation (after all, half of his lives had involved teleportation like this), fortunately, he managed to keep himself standing. At some point, the glare of the fire changed, becoming a different light altogether. He noted that he was still wearing his old jacket and faded pants, but now he noticed a distinct weight settling across his back, a sensation he'd experienced and grown used to in at least three lives as a ranger. _A bow?_

As the light died down, he heard a set of groans around him. Looking down, he saw three young men lying on the ground, dressed in similarly modern clothes. Not only that, but all of them seemed to be standing inside a large, blue, intricately carved circle, on a marble floor.

Interestingly, each of the young men was carrying a different weapon; a sword, a shield and a spear, each prominently featuring a blue, green and red jewel respectively. In fact, as Nick reached back, he felt himself grasping and pulling out a gold and white bow, bearing a similar yellow gem in the center. The weight across his lower back must be a quiver of arrows

"It worked! The four heroes have been summoned!" exclaimed a man. Nick's eyes snapped around to fix on him. He was wearing a set of long, flowing robes, and carrying some sort of metal trinket in one hand. "Please, Heroes of the Four Legendary weapons, lend us your aid!"

"Heroes…?" muttered the dark-haired young man with the shield, standing up, "Legendary weapons? Eh? Wait, what's with this shield?" He grabbed at the small, five-sided buckler on his arm and tugged. "Eh? What the hell, it won't come off!"

The other two men, hearing this, also attempted to cast away their weapons, only for them to flail about somewhat foolishly as they failed. Nick himself gave his new bow a sidelong look, before holding it out with one hand and letting go. It remained stubbornly stuck to his downward-facing palm. "Well, that's mildly inconvenient." Then he frowned at the robed man. "Are you saying that all four of us are heroes?"

Risk and Glory had always sent him on his own to his other lives. Sure, he'd always gathered companions, but they'd always been local denizens of their respective worlds.

"Where are we?!" demanded the sword-wielding man, another dark-haired one, though his was cut longer, and his face was younger, "Who are you, acting so suspicious?!"

Nick's face sagged. _Oh no. These guys don't realize what's happened._

The robed man raised his hands placatingly. "A-ah, please! I'll take you to the King to explain…"

"A King?" muttered the shield-wearer.

"This really looks like a fantasy-kinda place, but they even have a King?" the spear-wielder wondered aloud.

_Oh gods, please let this be a relatively light world that won't crush these innocent newbies…_

Moments later, they were led to a large room, lined with tall sun-lit windows and a long red carpet. Guards stood by the walls, as well as the two thrones at the end. Only one throne was occupied, by a gray-haired man who was definitely on the older side of middle-aged, dressed in lavish purple robes, with a relatively simple crown on his head.

His expression first appeared weary, but he gave them a wide smile, spreading his hands. "At last! I apologize for summoning you four so soon, but allow me to introduce myself. I am Aultcrey Melromarc XXXII, King of Melromarc. We need you, the heroes chosen by the four Legendary weapons, in order to combat the Dimensional Dungeon Waves that have begun terrorizing our country…"

"Ah, it's just talking."

"Even if it's the king, he's just talking."

Looking across the lineup he'd found himself a part of, Nick gaped at the sword and spear-holders who had spoken. _Do these guys not notice that we're in the middle of a heavily guarded room?!_

"May I know your names, brave Heroes?" asked the King, seemingly having not noticed the blatant rudeness.

"Amaki Ren," said the sword-wielding man with long, dark hair, nodding simply, though his expression remained guarded.

"Kitamura Motoyasu!" proclaimed the blond man with the spear, grinning back, "Nice to meet you, your majesty!"

_Huh. Both of them sound Japanese._ "Nick Ward," Nick introduced himself, bowing low. He could feel the other heroes looking at him in surprise. _What, did they not notice that I'm not Japanese as well?_

"It is an honor to meet you, Sir Ren, Sir Motoyasu, Sir Nick," said the King, "With the heroes on our side, the Waves can be-"

"Ah, wait a second!" the Shield hero protested, making Ren and Motoyasu jump in surprise, "D-don't you want to know my name?"

Nick grimaced with chagrin, giving the man an apologetic look for forgetting him, but a motion from the king caught his eye. For a moment, he thought he saw a frown of distaste cross the older man's face, but it passed so quickly that he could've assumed that it was a trick of the light.

Sadly, Nick was too experienced not to notice his cold tone. "And what is your name, Hero of the Shield?"

The man shifted uncomfortably, seemingly noticing something similar. "Iwatani…Naofumi."

The king nodded. "Well met to you as well, Sir Naofumi."

Suddenly, there came a twinge somewhere in the back of Nick's mind. He jerked, looking around, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Unbidden, his hand drifted to his pocket, pausing when he felt the edge of a tiny book inside. However, he decided not to check it for now. Instead, he addressed the King, clearing his throat. "If you'll pardon my saying so, your majesty, while a primer on the situation is all well and good, I'm afraid we still need more information how we're supposed to accomplish this task. You call us heroes chosen by the Legendary Weapons…" He held out his bow for emphasis, "But we have no understanding of how these Legendary Weapons operate, or how they might elevate us above a typical warrior. An explanation would be greatly appreciated."

"Oh, good, someone said something," sighed Naofumi beside him.

Motoyasu on the other hand stifled a laugh. "Pfft, you're really into this whole fantasy roleplay, aren'tcha, old man?"

"Old man?!" Nick sputtered indignantly. _Risk, what did you do?!_

Clearing his throat awkwardly, the king began, "Yes, of course…to start with, have you not accessed your Status magic?"

The four Heroes all shared a look. "…What is Status Magic?" asked Ren.

"Hrm…if you'll look into the corner of your eye, you will see the icon. That will allow you to tap into the world's 'system.' The Heroes of the past often referred to it as such, at least."

Nick frowned, even as he glanced upward. Indeed, a transparent yellow diamond flashed at the edge of his vision, before a large screen opened up before him. "Ah, I see it now. Interesting; so this world operates on a system as well," he commented, stroking his chin. As he did so, he realized for the first time that he had a good deal more stubble going on than he had before.

The screen before him filled his whole vision, though thankfully it was only partially transparent. Of course, Nick had experienced many a world that used game-like systems, so he was more than familiar with the concept.

Name: Nick Ward  
Race: Human (Reincarnated)

Level 1  
Class: Legendary Bow Hero  
Subclass: Magician

Equipment  
Weapon: Legendary Bow (LOCKED)  
Armor: Wrinkly Clothes (+5 DEF)

Stats  
HP: 35  
MP: 240  
SP: 25  


ATK: 15  
DEF: 1 (+5)  
HIT: 40  
SPD: 30  
RES: 5  
INT: 30

His eyebrows damn near shot off his head. _What's with this nonsensical balance of stats?!_ he wondered, staring in bewilderment.

"Only a Level 1?" asked Ren with some distaste, "What a pain in the ass."

"Yeah, you can't really expect us to fight like this, can you?" agreed Motoyasu.

"The Legendary Weapons all allow their Heroes to grow significantly from combat," the king was explaining. Nick quickly dismissed the status screen with an instinctive swipe of his middle and index finger, "And it is extremely well-documented that the weapons themselves are capable of rapid evolution."

The others all looked at their own weapons, and Nick could see a glint of interest in their eyes. He himself thought back to the choices he'd made in the CYOA, in particular the Sockets and Aurora Fantasia from Isekai Genie. He frowned. _Even if I don't have those things, this bow can already grow stronger…_ He spared the other three a look. _But they still don't have the choices I made._

Nodding to himself, he spoke up. "Although we don't know each other, I presume it would be in the world's best interest for the four of us to journey together in order to gain strength, would it not?"

Nick looked to the other three Heroes for support, but to his dismay, only Naofumi was nodding hesitantly, while Ren looked particularly aggrieved, and Motoyasu wore a glum expression.

"Unfortunately…" the king's ill-boding reply came delicately, "That will not be possible. The Legendary weapons interfere with each other, preventing the Heroes from growing stronger when they are near each other."

"So we can't even fight together…?" asked Naofumi, looking dismayed.

The older man cleared his throat. "Of course not. We will hire any available adventurers to party up with you, not to mention you'll be given a stipend by me personally. You won't be expected to work for nothing, of course."

"Your generosity is appreciated," said Nick, bowing, "In the meantime, might we have a moment to ourselves? Although we won't be journeying together, we four Heroes should at least get a feel for each other's personalities." He glanced at the other three. "At least, if they are willing."

They all nodded slowly, but Motoyasu and Ren were eyeing him with a hint of aggravation. _Probably don't like being spoken for,_ he thought, shrugging internally.

TBH

At the king's instruction, a guard led the four of them to a large room, containing a round table and four rather comfortable-looking beds. "Someone will come to get you once the adventurers have been assembled," the man told them, before bowing his head and retreating, closing the door.

For a moment, there was silence. Then Nick sighed, sinking into a chair. "Alright then, let's get down to it."

"You're…a pretty take-charge guy, aren't you?" asked Naofumi, sitting down opposite him. The other two sat down as well, with some reluctance.

The man smiled ruefully, shrugging slightly. "Ah, sorry, I find that it pays to be up-front and confident when faced with a scenario you're unsure of. Having manners helps too." He frowned at Ren and Motoyasu. "I mean honestly, complaining about talking in front of the king?"

The blond Spear Hero bristled, and Ren grimaced. "What's your point?"

Nick just waved his hand. "Nevermind that for now. We've got more important things to discuss."

"I agree," murmured the Sword Hero, "For starters, how we ended up here."

"That would be a good place to begin," conceded Nick, nodding, "In addition, we ought to introduce ourselves; obviously I don't know any of you, and judging by how you're acting, none of you are familiar with each other."

Nodding, the Shield Hero made to start, but Motoyasu spoke up, giving a suave smile. "Well, as for me, I guess I should start off by saying that I had a lot of girlfriends before."

"I find that unsurprising," said Ren, shrugging. Naofumi and Nick both nodded; the blond definitely did have the air of a flirty womanizer about him.

Of course, given that Nick had had many a lover throughout his lives, he was in no position to throw stones, so he said nothing. "Did anything unusual happen before you were summoned?"

His smile faded and he paled. "I, well…two of them found out and became jealous…"

"A Yandere, huh?" deadpanned Naofumi.

"You didn't tell them the truth?" asked Nick, brow furrowing, "That's just asking for trouble, you know?"

"Th-that's none of your business!" sputtered Motoyasu, glaring, "A-anyway, next thing I knew, I was here." He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms.

Nick only nodded, turning expectantly to Ren next.

The dark-haired young man sighed, rubbing absently at his side. "I was walking home from school, and happened across an assault in an alleyway. The victim was a friend of mine, so of course I jumped in and tried to pull the guy off, but…" His fingers tightened over his shirt, Nick's eyes picking up a small amount of shaking in his fingers. "…That's all I have to say."

"I see. Thank you," said the veteran simply.

"What about you, old man?" asked Motoyasu bluntly.

Nick squinted at him. "I can't be that much older than you. What are you, twenty? I'm usually only around thirty myself."

"Wait, what do you-?"

"But first, how did you find yourself drawn into this debacle, Naofumi," he continued, turning his attention to the Shield Hero.

Naofumi bit his lip. "Well…you two said that you died just before you came here, right?" he asked.

Both Ren and Motoyasu nodded.

"That's not what happened to me, though."

"Oh? I would have thought that a summoning like this would pull from common factors like the deceased…but what did happen?"

Shrugging, Naofumi glanced at the shield on his arm as he explained, "I was just hanging out at the library and found this weird book. Actually, it seemed to be talking about these same four Legendary weapons that we all seem to have found ourselves with. But when I got to some blank pages, I kinda…got sucked through."

Nick leaned forward on his hands, thinking. On either side of him, the Sword and Spear heroes gave Naofumi and each other skeptical looks. "Interesting. A book about the weapons that we've bonded to? Curious…" After a moment, he gave the other heroes a strained smile. "Ah, so I guess it's my turn now."

Ren nodded. "Start with the fact that you said that you're 'usually' thirty years old."

"Hm…"

"Oi oi, you're not gonna keep quiet after making us tell our stories!" protested Motoyasu.

Nick rolled his eyes, "Oh, don't worry, I'll give an explanation. I'm just wondering how much of the whole story you'll readily believe. But first, let me see if any of your stories have something that lines up with mine; before you each found yourself transported here, did any of you run into a flashy woman with a black dress and disturbing eyes?"

The other three Heroes all blinked at the bizarre question. "A flashy woman…?" asked Motoyasu.

Simultaneously, Ren inquired, "Disturbing eyes?"

"I definitely didn't meet anyone like that," Naofumi declared with certainty, "I doubt a woman like that would even glance my way."

The other two Heroes nodded, indicating that they too had not encountered Risk.

"I see…" sighed Nick, leaning back in his chair, "If you had seen her, it might be a little easier for you to believe my whole story. In any case, I will tell you that this situation is one that is wholly familiar to me: I have been reborn and summoned into alternate worlds like this many times."

Whatever the three young men had been expecting to hear, it clearly wasn't that. "What?!" demanded Ren, pushing back his chair and standing up.

"How the hell is that possible?" asked Motoyasu.

He shook his head. "I stopped wondering about that a long time ago. However, the fact remains that I have a great deal of experience with this sort of thing." He gave them a small smile. "I'm not gonna ask you to follow my lead or anything, but if you ever feel like you need advice, I'd be happy to provide."

As expected, his humble words caused the two more hotheaded heroes to settle down somewhat, looking mollified. Naofumi smiled cautiously.

"…He's kinda like a tutorial NPC, isn't he?" the Spear Hero suddenly spoke up.

Nick blinked, but before he could ask what the hell he was talking about, Ren concurred. "Yeah, with a line like that. Actually, I've been thinking this for a while, but this whole place is a lot like a game."

"Eh?" uttered Naofumi, looking just as bewildered as Nick felt.

"Not just a lot, but it is!" exclaimed Motoyasu animatedly, "This whole system is exactly like Emerald Online!"

This time, it was his turn to be stared at cluelessly.

"I've never heard of that game," said Ren flatly, "But I was thinking more that it looks like the system from Bravestar Online."

"Huh?! H-how can you not have heard about EO? It's pretty much the biggest VRMMO in the world!" protested the blond.

Naofumi grimaced. "Yeah, sorry, I'm not much of a gamer, so I've never heard of it either."

"It's been gods-know how long since I've been back home, and there was never really one game that I stuck with," said Nick, shrugging, "But either way-"

"Why'd I get stuck with a Spear, though? I mean, sure, Emerald Online's Spearman class is pretty good for PVE, but it just ain't my style!"

He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in deeply at being interrupted.

"I can sympathize, but in my case I suppose I lucked out in acquiring this Sword," said Ren, a small, smug smile tugging at his lips. "So I suppose it could be worse."

"Yeah, you could've gotten the shield," chuckled Motoyasu, before sparing a glance at Naofumi and halfheartedly saying, "No offense, man."

Naofumi, as expected, did take some offense. "H-hey, what's wrong with a shield?"

The Spear Hero only shook his head sadly, spreading his hands regretfully. "The Shieldbearer class in Emerald Online IS supposed to work as a tank, but because of PVP, it was pretty badly balanced and can't fight worth crap, so nobody uses it."

"What the hell…? I mean, it's true that my attack stat is pretty low, but-"

"Ya see? I mean, what's the point in you fighting the Waves if you can't even do any damage?"

Nick's eyes flashed, his jaw tightening with displeasure. "Hey. Motoyasu."

The Spear Hero jerked slightly at his sharp tone of voice. "Ah, uh…what's up?"

"What are your defensive stats?"

Motoyasu blinked. "Ah, er… ten and fifteen?"

"Well. My defense is _one,_ and my resistance is _five!"_

Naofumi's eyes widened. "That sounds…my Attack stat is five as well, but my physical and magic defenses are both 45."

"As expected," said Nick coldly, giving Motoyasu a severe glare. "What use is there for someone who can't do damage? How about making sure that we, with our lower defenses, don't get wiped out by the Waves?"

Ren grimaced. "When you put it that way, then I suppose we were too hasty in judging the Shield…"

"J-jeez, old man, no need to be so intense!" sputtered the Spear Hero defensively.

"I'll be as intense as I need to be to make sure you three newbies make it through all this alive," Nick retorted, standing up, "You compared this world's system with games? Make no mistake, boys: there are many worlds like that out there. I've been to many of them. But let me tell you something, no matter what style or form the system takes, these worlds will always make you play the most dangerous game of all."

Motoyasu shrank down in his seat under Nick's heated look. Naofumi, on the other hand, gazed up at him with more than a little respect. "What game is that, Nick-san?"

The older man smiled bitterly, thinking of the gods up above, playing their own games with him.

"_Real life."_

TBH

**AN:** And there you have it, my contribution to the Tate no Yuusha fandom, such as it is. This is NOT a self-insert, so Nick won't be relying on any meta-knowledge for this Isekai.

In addition, when any AU or crossover elements rear their heads in this fic (because that's happening), don't you start complaining. If anyone wants to give criticism, then you'd better be polite about it.

And yes, Nick DOES have an absurd advantage over the other heroes in terms of starting power thanks to his CYOAs. Wanna know how much stronger? Here ya go!

**Isekai Genie CYOA**  
_Aurora Fantasia:_ Doubles the power of any magical item/weapon. Over time, the increase grows up to a 100x multiplier. Gives the ability to sense magical items. Eventually gives the ability to create and enchant your own.  
_Mantle of Chiron:_ Allows the user to sense the potential present in other people, as well as draw people destined for greatness to you. In addition, when teaching a person, you can quadruple the speed and results of their training, eventually increasing their max potential.  
_Cornucopic Body:_ The limits of physical training no longer apply. No matter how much the user trains, they never suffer from diminishing returns, only growing stronger, faster, tougher, etc. Does not apply to mental or spiritual abilities.  
_Key to the Genie's Marketplace:_ When inserted into any lock, the key will create a portal to an otherworldly marketplace, where anything can be bought or bartered for. Time moves at 1/60th of the normal world, and you don't age, but you can only exit through where you came in.

**Adventurer's Meta CYOA**  
_Body Makeover_** -** You get a free makeover for your physical appearance, be it size, ethnicity, or even gender. No, you may not change your species - only human. In addition, any genetic defects and existing physical/mental health conditions will be fixed. This will only happen once, so don't waste it on becoming a little girl or something, okay?  
_Enhanced Condition_** -** All of your parameters gain a boost, whether physical, mental, or even spiritual, upgrading them to twice as potent as those of a peak human in Marvel/DC Comics. Also includes the obligatory pool of magic you can use to cast spells you learn (free spells not included - make up your own).  
_Boosted Health_** -** You're immune to all forms of mundane poison, venom, diseases, as well as the effects of aging, and highly resistant to supernatural ones. In addition, you gain a superhuman healing factor, healing shattered bones in an hour and regenerating severed limbs within a day. Just remember that while you are biologically immortal, taking too much damage can still end your life.  
_Inventory_** -** You gain access to an inventory that can store any number of items, which can be accessed via any form of items that can be used to store and carry things. It is not linked to any one particular receptacle, any you open can be used. Any item that you can pick up can be stored, and all items stored are in stasis and have no weight while within the inventory. Gasses, liquids and plasma must be bottled or otherwise contained before they can be stored, although the container does not need to be sealed, a cup of tea would be fine. Sapient or mobile beings cannot be stored. Whenever you open your inventory, you will automatically be able to know what is contained within it, and can remove any desired item without having to search.  
_Journal_** -** You gain access to an automatically updating, indestructible, unlosable journal that keeps track of information for you. Jobs, rumours, bestiary, maps, places, item values, number of sweet rolls you've stolen and far more are all recorded as you encounter them. Ordinarily only you can read anything within the journal, for anyone else it will appear blank. However, you can choose to show an individual specific entries if you wish, though they will still remain unable to read it by themselves. You will automatically know if any major new additions are made to the journal and can, when opening it, turn straight to the page with the information that you desire to read.  
_Fast Travel_** -** You can instantly teleport to any exterior door, gate, or threshold you have touched before, or to inside the entryway of any buildings that you own. This can only be done while you are still, and not in immediate danger of attack or any combat. You may take companions and willing allies with you if you choose, but they must also be out of danger like you.  
_Mental Map_** \- **Your sense of direction and your memory of the land is uncanny. You remember what the land around looks like, even if you barely glanced at it, and can visualize it like it was a map. If you're within 500 meters of a spot you've been previously, you know exactly where you are. If you got teleported, you don't immediately know where you are relative to your old location, unless your new and old locations are connected by area that you've "mapped".  
_Experience_** \- **You can slowly and steadily improve yourself by going out and do things, whether it is killing monsters in a dark dungeon somewhere, or working a Nine-to-Five job in some city. Whenever you level up (how it manifests is up to you), you gain "points" that you can then spend to invest in any attributes and abilities you pick. Yes, even if it has nothing to do with the route you chose to level up, so you can be a boring office worker who just happens to be a terrific swordsman or something.  
_Quests and Loot_** -** At times, you may receive requests from others, be it random strangers on the street or someone you are familiar with. Accepting these requests, whether they're doing some grocery for your mother or retrieving five bear asses from the local mountain range, will grant you additional "experience points" as detailed above, as well as some reward, whether monetary or something more exotic (but mostly monetary). The more specific and difficult a quest is, the better the reward. In addition, anything you kill from now on (be it people or beasts) will have a chance to drop something upon death, such as money or something thematic to their nature. Like before, the more powerful or rarer your kill is, the higher the chance for them to drop some sweet loot upon death.  
_Chosen Class: Mage_

**Socket CYOA** Spirit: Bronze (4 starting stones, 2 threads, get 3 of each stone a day, gain new stones and threads in half the time)  
Stones:  
_Forgestone_ (Free) (Tempers, enhances and repairs. Each stone can be used to give a one-time permanent boost to an object)  
_Arcanite_ (Grants magical power, along with Wisdom and supernatural guidance towards one's goal.)  
_Dreamer's Guard_ (Induces sleep, creativity and mental protection. Can also create a mindscape.)  
_Evanescent_ (Gives speed, clarity and immaterial quality. Can also create clouds of sense-obscuring fog.)  
_Verdant Seed_ (Gives Healing, stamina and sustenance. Can also create temporary magical flora.)  
Threads:  
_Dispersion_ (Free) (Resets all thread effects and ejects all socketed stones from an object.)  
_Leap_ (Allows stones to link to each other even if they're socketed into separate objects.)  
_Fray_ (Allows you to filter a stone's abilities, so that only certain aspects (which are then strengthened) get passed on.)

**Planar Travel Agency**  
_Language:_ The ability to speak and understand any language, including reading and writing.  
_Currency:_ Any currency that you get from another world can be transformed into the local equivalent of your current world  
_Wardrobe:_ Any clothing you possess will be converted into an equivalent considered normal by local inhabitants, depending on the quality of the clothing itself.  
_Lore:_ When entering a new area, you will learn any common knowledge that the local inhabitants would know. If the area is uninhabited, you learn about weather and climate, along with any features that may prove useful to you.

And there you have it. I don't wanna hear about how this is too Overpowered, because _that's the whole point._ Like with Waking Dreamer, I want to have some _fun_ with the Legendary Bow, and decided to add some stuff to make it more fun to come up with stuff.

As for the game system, for those who don't recognize it, Nick's stats and equipment work off the Disgaea system. Other things will be mixed in as well.

If you've managed to stick with me until this point, thank you for reading (and hopefully enjoying) this chapter. As with anything, I have no guarantees as to when the next one will be out, but in the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please leave a review (that I can respond to) or send a PM.

North South Out.


	2. Fractured Fellowship

**AN: Because of how much I can't stop thinking about it, here's chapter 2! This one's gonna be a tad number-heavy, so I apologize in advance for that.**

**Review responses**

**Guest 1: You'll just have to see.**

**Guest 2: Exactly, my man. What's the point in having all these powers if you're not gonna have fun with them?**

**Guest 3: Well, depends on A. who they are and B. whether they believe him.**

"Speech"  
Text/System  
_Thoughts  
__System Message  
_**Cursed/Divine**  
**Skill/Spell/Attack**

Chapter 2: Fractured Fellowship

Annoyingly, but not unsurprisingly, his partial joke didn't really go over well. Motoyasu just scoffed and sat back in his chair, the chagrin from being told off keeping him from saying much more.

Sighing, Nick just reached into his pocket to feel the book he'd found earlier. Pulling it out, he examined it, discovering a small, worn leather notebook, bound by a strap. _Ah, this must be the Journal from the Adventurer's Meta,_ he realized, opening it up.

Inside was scrawled the same numbers and stats that he'd seen before. Interestingly, he recognized it as his own handwriting.

_This Journal is supposed to contain any information that I've gotten access to…I wonder if that mixes with my Lore power as well?_

Even as he thought this, a few pages slipped through his fingers, coming to rest on a new one.

Every few centuries, the world is besieged by waves of monsters.

These monsters originate from mysterious labyrinthine strongholds and dungeons that appear out of nowhere.

Only the four Heroes are strong enough to consistently repel the waves.

Nick furrowed his brow as line after line faded into view. _What are the Dungeons like?_

Dungeons are mysterious and vast, carrying the promise of treasures and power, but treacherous to navigate.

He frowned, thinking of another Adventurer power he'd been given: the Map. Ever since he and the other three Heroes had been summoned and led through the castle, a sense of awareness had bloomed in the back of his mind. A mental image was being continuously drawn of the space around him, in full 3D.

_I wonder…could I use this power to map out the Dungeons…? But what would be the use of that?_

Dungeons remain after the Wave boss has been killed. The continent is littered with un-cleared Dungeons.

He gave a smile of excitement at that bit of information, only to then frown. _Even if I can map things out, that won't help me if I'm not strong enough…_ "Hm…"

"What is it, old man?" asked Ren, though his tone of voice indicated that he didn't really care.

Brushing aside the continued use of 'old man,' Nick shrugged and admitted, "I'm just wondering how the whole 'evolution' thing is supposed to work with our weapons. If I have to train myself, that's all well and good, but I'd rather know that I'm doing things properly.

The dark-haired man shrugged. "Just check the Help menu, then."

Nick blinked. "Huh?"

"Oi, Ren, don't bother. An NPC wouldn't understand stuff like that," said Motoyasu lazily.

"I already found the status menu," snapped the Bow Hero heatedly, "I just didn't know that there was more to it! Christ…"

He pulled up the menu once more, this time noticing that there a set of tabs across the top.

Status  
Trees  
Inventory  
Map  
Help

With a grunt of acknowledgement, he tabbed over to the Help section. "Alright, let's see here…the weapon can copy other weapons of the same type, along with unlocking new forms by absorbing materials and items…hm, divided into rarities from Common to Legendary, that makes sense."

"Hold on a second," said Ren suddenly, leaning forward, "I was just looking at my Help menu, and I don't see anything about weapon copying or rarities."

"No? Well, what does it say?"

"It says that the weapon's form has a Proficiency, which you increase with use, or by feeding it objects to give proficiency points."

Now it was Motoyasu's turn to speak up. "Okay, you both are crazy, because I'm not seeing EITHER of those! Mine says that you have to refine your forms by feeding it ores dropped from monsters!"

Nick frowned, rubbing his chin. "Interesting. From the sound of it, each of our weapons has different systems. I wonder if any of us could use each other's methods, though…" He looked at the Shield Hero, who had largely remained silent, staring cluelessly at everyone else. "Hey, Naofumi, what does your Help menu tell you?"

"Ah…!" Naofumi started, but before he could check, the door opened and the guard from earlier stuck his head in.

"Begging your pardon, Sirs, but the Adventurers have been gathered."

Nodding, the four Heroes stood up and followed him. _Well, I guess I can learn about it later._

They were led back to the throne room, where the King and about a dozen-odd people, carrying weapons and wearing various types of armor. _These must be the adventurers,_ Nick thought, giving them a once-over. _Not bad. Clearly professional._

"Thank you for gathering on such short notice," the King began, addressing the warriors, "Your mission will be quite simple, but challenging. Each of you must join a party with one of the four Legendary Heroes and support them in their efforts to grow stronger, so that they might face the coming Waves."

Everyone nodded, some grinning in anticipation. Already Nick could see a number of young women glancing admiringly at the handsome Motoyasu.

The looks being thrown his way, however, were much more apprehensive and unwelcome. Nick sighed. _Risk, what did you make me look like?_ He wondered once more.

"Those of you who wish to undertake this mission, please line up behind your chosen Hero!"

"Ah, wait, they're the ones who choose…?" mumbled Naofumi.

"Seems a little biased, doesn't it?" Nick agreed quietly, while the adventurers strode towards them.

In only a few moments, the four Heroes found themselves with a line behind them. Ren had attracted four followers, while Motoyasu had five, four of whom were women.

Nick himself had managed to acquire three sturdy-looking individuals. A wiry man in leathers with a shifty look in his eye, a couple of daggers and knives at his hip, stood just behind him, and the Bow Hero had to resist the urge to check his pockets. The second fellow seemed a bit more refined, wearing what appeared to be priestly vestments, hands clasped around some sort of pendent. The third was a burly man, with a swarthy face and a thick mustache, wearing a helmet and plated armor, while carrying a broadsword and short spear. He gave them a tight smile and a nod.

Naofumi…had nobody.

"Wait a second!" protested the Shield Hero, looking around wildly, "Isn't this a little unfair?!"

There was an awkward silence, while the other three shared sheepish looks.

Even the King cleared his throat. "Ah…my apologies, but the Shield is often considered an…unreliable weapon, with a superstition of bringing misfortune."

Nick looked back at his armored knight companion. _I wouldn't call that unreliable._

"Even so, it would be simply unfair for one of our four Heroes to be forced into his journey in solitude," continued the monarch, "As such, I must ask that one of you Adventurers please accompany the Shield Hero. I will increase the payment if necessary."

The Bow Hero once more looked over his three companions. The thief had a speculative look, while the cleric's face remained wise and open, but he thought he saw a disdainful twist at the corner of his mouth. _Four is just barely enough for a decent party,_ he thought guiltily, shooting a look at the other two Heroes, _One of you volunteer, will you?!_

For a moment, it looked as if Ren might offer to let go of one of his party members, stepping forward and opening his mouth, but before he could, a woman with crimson hair stepped forward, a hand clasped to her chest. "I will join the Shield Hero." She gave Naofumi a patient smile, bowing with a flourish, drawing the eye to a bust outlined by an almost corset-like outfit.

"M-Myne-san?" asked Motoyasu in surprise. Then he smiled and shrugged. "Well, if that's what you want, I've no problems. Right, ladies?"

As the other girls in his party tittered and agreed, the redhead strode towards Naofumi, holding out a gloved hand. "My name is Myne. Please take care of me, Sir Naofumi."

"Y-yes!" exclaimed Naofumi, a look of relief crossing his face and shaking her hand.

Nick smiled. _Good. So he won't be completely alone._

It certainly was amazing what one could overlook due to a hope for success.

TBH

Upon receiving their stipends of 600 Silver pieces each (roughly 5 Gold pieces, or 500,000 Copper), with Naofumi receiving 1000 due to his lack of supporters, the four Heroes departed the castle, crossing a bridge into the main capital proper. The other three Heroes were appropriately awed by the expansive city, and even Nick took a moment to admire the simple, but sturdy architecture.

"Good luck, you three," he told them, giving Naofumi a smile and a nod, "See you when our paths cross again, I suppose."

Motoyasu didn't hear him, already marching away with his gaggle of girls and lone man (the poor third wheel).

Ren gave him a chilly nod, before departing himself.

Naofumi blinked at him, giving a shaky smile in return, before Myne grabbed his hand and dragging him away.

Finally, Nick turned to his own party. "Alright, from the top. May I know your names?"

"Gerrick's the name!" said the thief in an oily, bowing low, "Just keep the enemies distracted and I'll take 'em out right quick. And if you need to get into a stronghold, I can get you through the door no problem!"

The priest made a gesture of sorts, holding up his pendent for Nick to see. It was an elaborate thing, with an overlapping, downward-thrust spear, an upturned sword, and a crescent that he assumed was meant to be a Bow, with a set of rather sharp-looking spikes radiating out like sun rays. "I am Father Deaurep, of the Church of the Three Heroes."

"Ah, the local religious establishment?" asked the Bow Hero, smiling politely, even as the name set off an alarm bell in his head, paralleled by a twinge in his mind that told him that his Journal had just been updated, "I'm always interested in hearing other people's views of the divine." _Especially since I've seen them myself._

"It would be my honor to enlighten you on my church's teachings," demurred the man, bowing, "I'm afraid I'm not much of a direct combatant, but I am well-versed in Healing magic."

"Excellent!" proclaimed Nick, clapping him on the shoulder, "My defense is rather low, so if I take a nasty hit, I expect that I'll be relying on you to bail me out."

Then he turned to the armored warrior. "And you?"

He gave a self-assured smirk. "The name's Mald! It's an honor to be working alongside one of the four Heroes, bringing Justice across the land!"

_Justice? Well, I guess in between Wave fights there'll be bandits and such to fight…_ "Sure!" he said lightly, giving him a nod. "Well! Now that we're all acquainted, let's go get me equipped, yeah?" Nick suggested brightly, clasping his hands behind his back, "Which of you guys knows where to get armor?"

Gerrick joined your Party  
Deaurep joined your Party  
Mald joined your Party

TBH

Mald led them through the streets, strutting confidently and smirking as Nick trailed behind. "Make way for the Bow Hero!" he called out boisterously

Of course, they attracted quite a few looks from the townspeople, a number of them wearing annoyed expressions.

"There's no need to be rude, Mald," Nick sighed, tapping him on the shoulder, "The road is more than wide enough for everyone to use without anyone making way."

"Nonsense! A Hero deserves better than having to constantly bump into peasants all the time."

His eyes narrowed. "I'll let myself be the judge on what I deserve, thank you very much."

The armored man shifted uneasily, before turning away and mumbling under his breath. Nick chose to ignore him.

Fortunately, he didn't do much else, finally leading the group towards a store bearing the near-universal symbol of blacksmiths; that being a hammer and anvil. The runes above the image were of an unfamiliar language, but thanks to the Language power he'd received, their meaning quickly filtered into Nick's brain: Erhardt's

"Here we are, the best armorer in town!" proclaimed Mald, gesturing at it.

"Ah…" Gerrick hung back, making Nick glance at him. "If you, er, don't mind, how about I split off and go gather some traveling supplies? Mind sparing me, oh…about 50 silver?"

Nick shrugged, handing over the money. Sure, the thief probably didn't need anywhere near that much, but 50 out of 600 wasn't going to be a huge loss. "Sure. Pick up some food, a backpack, tents and whatever else you think might be useful."

He nodded eagerly, already turning to leave. "You got it, boss!"

"Whatever you think might be _useful,"_ Nick repeated firmly, his tone making him flinch. He didn't answer, scampering off. "Right. Well, let's take a look."

He led the way inside, looking around as he entered. It was a moderately-sized place, with weapons and armor lined up and displayed all over. A number of bows caught his eye on the wall, reminding him of his weapon's copy function.

"Welcome," grunted the man behind the counter, a bald, scar-faced, brawny specimen, "Haven't seen you around. You new in town?"

Before Mald could rudely announce who he was, Nick stepped forward, smiling. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Nick Ward, and I'm the Hero of the Bow. I presume you're Mr. Erhardt?" He held out his hand to shake.

The smith raised his eyebrows, even as he took the offered hand. "Oh, one of the new Heroes, huh? Nice to meet you as well. I'm Erhardt." He squinted at Nick. "I'll be honest, with that expression on your face, I thought you were here to make trouble." He glanced meaningfully at Mald, who was still wearing a decidedly superior expression.

"Expression?" asked the Hero, frowning, "What do you mean?"

Erhardt scratched his neck, giving him an unreadable look. "Nothing…so, how can I help you, Sir Hero?"

_I really need to find myself a damn mirror…_ "Right. Well, I'm gonna need myself some armor. Something light and flexible, like leather, and arm-guards for archery. Also…" Nick took a glance at the wall. "Would you mind letting me take a look at those bows and crossbows?"

He frowned, looking at the Legendary Bow slung over Nick's shoulder. "What for? You've got that thing, haven'tcha?"

"Er, yes, but you see, I have the ability to copy other weapons of the same type, and I'd like to see what sort of benefits that would bring."

The smith's eyes took on a frosty glint. "So you want to steal my wares, do you?"

"_No."_ Nick's reply was immediate and firm enough to make the man rock back slightly. "You'll still have the actual weapons to sell. You're losing nothing from this. Good god, why does everyone always assume that 'copying' is the same as 'stealing?' It's not like a damn essay or…" he cut himself off with an angry sigh, before fixing a bemused Erhardt with an irritated look. "Anyway, if it really bothers you that much…how much will the leather armor and braces cost?"

"Ah, seven silvers…"

The Bow Hero fished into his money pouch and pulled out ten silvers, slapping them down on the counter. "Here's ten more, in advance."

"Ya don't have ta-" began the smith, raising his hands in supplication, "Look, sorry, if you say that it'll leave the merch intact, then you can copy it freely. I haven't worked with a Hero before, so I wasn't sure. You can keep the silvers." Plucking out three, he tossed them back. "Armor's in the back room. Go find something your size."

TBH

It didn't take long for Nick to find a set of leather armor that fit him. As he carefully pulled it off the rack, he glanced down at his jacket and cargo pants. "Hm. This really doesn't fit the setting, does it? Good thing I learned that power…" Running a hand over his clothes, a ripple passed through them, before transforming into, of all things, a puffy yellow gambeson, while his pants became more simplified, and his shoes transformed into a pair of sturdy leather boots.

He frowned at the gambeson. _Hm. Okay, so that's the local equivalent. So why is it yellow?_ He glanced at his bow, with its prominently displayed Topaz. _This is your fault, isn't it?_

Sighing at his weapon's poor sense of fashion, he quickly donned the leathers, strapping a bracer onto his inner forearms to protect them from his bowstring.

"Oh! Lookin' good, Sir Hero," said the smith lightly as he reemerged, though he raised an eyebrow at the change in wardrobe, "I'll admit, I'm not as great at leather as I am with metal, but it should serve you well. Anyway, if you still want to take a look at the bows, go right ahead."

Nodding in gratitude, Nick stepped over to the racks of bows, unslinging his own and gripping it comfortably. Wondering for a moment over how to do this, he pointed the yellow gem at a wooden shortbow.

A moment later, it began to glow, a small, elaborate magic circle of sorts flaring around it, and a ray of light shone from the gem. It swept over the other bow, scanning every inch of it, before fading away. Then, with a flash, the bow in his hand morphed into an exact copy, albeit still bearing the same yellow jewel on the handle.

_Weapon Copy complete: Wooden Shortbow unlocked_

Wooden Shortbow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: +2 SPD  
Critical Range: Mid  
Type Bonus: +5 SPD  
Sockets: 2 (Empty)

"It works!" he proclaimed, grinning.

"Er...yeah. Go ahead and do the rest, then…" muttered the smith uncertainly.

TBH

Iron Shortbow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: +3 ATK  
Critical Range: Mid  
Type Bonus: +5 SPD  
Sockets: 4 (Empty)

Iron Longbow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: +3 ATK  
Critical Range: Long  
Type Bonus: +5 HIT  
Sockets: 4

Wood Recurve Bow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: +4 SPD  
Critical Range: Mid  
Type Bonus: +5 ATK  
Sockets: 3

Steel Recurve Bow  
Rarity: Uncommon  
Ability: +40 HIT  
Critical Range: Mid  
Type Bonus: +50 ATK  
Sockets: 5

There hadn't been all that many different bows for him to copy, but by the time Nick had finished, his eyes were wide at the numbers being presented to him. A quick check on his status confirmed that yes, his HIT stat had more than doubled from these five weapon copies.

Switching from one to another caused his stats to shift; it seemed that he would only retain the bonus of one bow at a time.

He turned to Erhardt, smiling. "Thank you very much for this. You wouldn't believe how much it's just helped me."

"No, I probably wouldn't," said the smith dryly, "Next time, try some of the other bows in the back room, or commission one yourself." He waved his hand. "Now shoo, before I have to deal with one of your fellow heroes pulling this same stunt."

"A most irreverent man," commented Deaurep as they departed, his mouth thinning in disapproval, "To take such a brusque tone with one of the Three."

Nick sighed. First Mald, and now this priest…best nip these attitudes in the bud. "Nothing wrong with a tone, Father. It's not like he tried anything disrespectful."

Mald grunted. "Did you not notice how he tried to gouge more of your money for copying his merchandise? His quality is good, but that's no excuse to try and earn more money than he has a right to."

Nick fixed him with a stern look, making him flinch. "No, I didn't. Did you, however, notice that I tried to pay him with extra coin preemptively, only to give it back and only receive payment for my leather armor? As the maker of his wares, he has a right to decide how much they should be worth. As long as they're fair, I'll not dispute them."

"A noble sentiment to be sure," said Deaurep, smiling gently, "As expected of a Hero."

"Currently only in title," sighed the Bow wielder, "Calling me a chosen Hero is all well and good, but let's hold off on what respect I 'deserve' until I've gotten deeds to my name."

This earned him a look of genuine surprise from both party members.

"…As you say, Sir Nick."

"If you insist…"

He nodded. "Good. Let's speak no more of it. We need to track down Gerrick and go find some monsters for me to practice with."

TBH

Using his Map ability to track down his wayward party member, the three men extricated the weasel-y man from a bar. Fortunately, Gerrick hadn't had time to get too drunk, and he had acquired the items that Nick had asked for.

After that, they headed out to the woods by the town's northern edge.

"There should be some big bugs around here," said Gerrick, looking around furtively "Since the Waves started, they have become a true nuisance. Probably one of the old Dungeons acting up…" He shuddered.

Nick frowned, even as he unslung his bow, transforming it into the Steel Recurve. Reaching for the quiver across his back, he pulled out an arrow, ready to nock it at a moment's notice. "What do you mean by acting up? I thought that Dungeons died down once its Wave ended."

Gerrick shuddered. "Died down? More like it goes into a slumber, sir. It'll keep spawnin' monsters no matter what, but only a little at a time. Sometimes, though, it'll start gettin' restless and put out more than usual." He swallowed. "I once tried goin' in there to try an' snag meself a bit of loot, I must confess…never again, Sir Nick! Ain't no amount of treasure gonna make me go back in there!"

_That's unfortunate,_ thought the Hero wryly, _Because that's exactly where I'm headed._

"It is the duty of the Three Heroes to subdue the waves," said Deaurep piously, giving Gerrick a disdainful look, "So Sir Nick will be entering the Dungeons as a matter of course.

"Don't you mean Four Heroes?" asked Nick.

The priest grimaced. "The fact that there are four heroes is but a side effect of summoning the Three. In order for there to be heroes who can fight, there must be one who cannot. Such a useless Hero can only be considered an expendable pawn at best."

"I disagree," said Nick firmly, still keeping an eye out for the purported insects, "If there are only three Heroes who deal damage, they run the risk of being blindsided and defeated by an overwhelming enemy. Even if the Shield cannot directly fight, defense is an essential role for any group to possess."

"You underestimate the power of the Three Heroes. It is well documented that their power will only continue to climb to meet even the greatest of perils, while the Shield can only struggle and perish."

"Really now? You will have to show me these documents, then," he replied mildly, "But in my own experiences, it is always the power that is overlooked that ends up surpassing the others."

"Feh. Probably be some sort of evil, dark means," muttered Mald.

Nick rolled his eyes, but said nothing. However, he was quite certain now that he did not like this group very much.

Suddenly, there came a rustling from a nearby bush. "Here it comes!" yelped Gerrick.

A series of black bodies, each the size of his head, came soaring out of the underbrush with a loud buzzing. Five beetles flew towards the group, their oval-shaped bodies hanging down as their over-sized wings carried them aloft. Long, sharp horns jutted up from their heads, and their flailing legs would have been comical if not for the wicked hooks at the ends.

Wasting no time, Nick nocked his arrow, took a moment to aim and let loose. _Let's see if that HIT stat actually does something._

The wooden shaft skewered through the middle beetle dead on, knocking it out of the air. However, the other beetles only continued on, weaving between trees and charging towards him with angry hums, yellow eyes flashing.

Cursing, he reached for his quiver, fumbling for another arrow. _I really hope that I don't have a limited supply of these. _He rolled to the side as two of them speared through where he'd been standing. _I REALLY don't want to find out how my DEF would stand up to that!_ Finally pulling out another arrow, his eyes narrowed as he realized that those two beetles then latched onto tree trunks, falling still. _They have to stop and rest after an attack."_

He fired, pinning first one to its tree, then the other. As he drew another arrow, he instead grabbed two. _Having to take one at a time is too slow._

The last two beetles closed in with a drone, the forest light glinting off their black carapace, weaving about almost drunkenly…however, their paths were anything but erratic. His eyes and hands twitched as he nocked the first arrow along the right side of the bow and fired. Even as the beetle crashed to the ground, impaled through the mouth, he was already pulling back the other arrow, which he'd kept hold of. However, the last beetle suddenly put on a burst of speed, screeching as it blasted towards him, its horn gleaming in the sun. Caught off-guard, he leaped backwards, underneath the charge, and instead spun the arrow into a reverse grip. With a yell, he lashed out, plunging the sharpened wooden tip into its underbelly.

Sitting up as it finally went still, Nick sighed, taking a look around. Now that he was out of danger, he noticed that each of the bug corpses now had +6 EXP floating over them. "Well, that went better than expected."

"Not bad for a first fight, Bow Hero," laughed Mald, sheathing his sword, "I almost thought our Priest was gonna have to interfere!"

"That was a close call," sighed Gerrick, emerging from behind a tree, "I would've stabbed 'im if he'd got ya, Sir Hero, honest, but ya seem to've got it all under control."

Nick grunted, even as he gave the impaled beetle in his hand a grimace. Pulling it out, he saw that the point had splintered and split badly. "I hope this Bow comes with better arrows."

_The Legendary Bow unlocks new Arrows with the same methods that it unlocks forms for itself._

He blinked at the sudden message. _Huh. Good to know._

Remembering the bow's previous mention of absorbing materials to unlock forms, Nick hefted the beetle's corpse for a moment, before pressing it to his weapon's yellow jewel. Almost immediately it lit up with that same circle as when it had copied the other bows. The beetle rapidly broke down and disintegrated before his eyes, transforming into gold sparks and being absorbed into the bow. A moment later, it flashed, morphing into a stout, black bow made of shining plates.

Composite Carapace Bow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: +14 ATK, Rank 1 Pierce  
Critical Range: Close-Mid  
Type Bonus: +5 SP  
Sockets: 3 (Empty)

"Interesting. You'd think that a bow made out of carapace might give me decent defense or something, but nope."

"You see? Even your own weapon is telling you that defense is meaningless."

A vein pulsed in Nick's temple, but he did not rise to the bait.

TBH

There were many things that Nick had grown used to over the millennia. Fighting the same monsters for five hours was one that he sorely wished that he hadn't.

He killed beetle after beetle, venturing deeper into the woods and studying their behaviors. He loosed arrow after arrow, slowly relearning the skills he'd acquired from his past lives. Speaking of skills…

_Through sufficient actions, Bow Mastery (Rank 1) has been acquired._

He'd filed that announcement away, but he did notice that his motions for nocking, firing and reloading had all become just a bit smoother. The idea of moving and firing became much less dangerous, and even the moments when he had to use the crude wooden arrows as shivs became less harrowing and heart-pounding.

All too soon, he received his first Level Up, along with an interesting tid-bit of a pop-up.

_Upon Level Up, any stats or bonuses granted by your currently equipped Bow will be permanently added to your baseline stats. Only works once per Bow._

By the time he finally stopped, slipping beetle carcasses into his Inventory, he'd leveled up again, bringing him up to Level 3. Idly, he opened up the status menu to see how much he'd grown, only to choke on his own spit. "WHAT?!"

He stared, aghast, his stats practically skyrocketed before his eyes. Everything but his DEF and RES stats had jumped right into the triple digits! Even his MP had climbed up to over 1000! "Either Risk is in a good mood, or we're in serious trouble," he muttered.

Despite being initially elated by this massive increase in numbers, Nick could not help but feel a sense of foreboding. If merely going from Level 1 to 3 gave this much of a boost, he couldn't imagine what level 10 could be like. However, more worryingly, how much stronger would monsters become? He had little doubt that each Dungeon Wave would only get more and more dangerous over time.

Of course, he had no way of knowing whether or not such a growth would happen. For now, he'd have to take things one step at a time.

Considering that the sun was setting, he finally decided to head back into town and sell off some of the beetle bodies. He had no idea what uses they might have, but he figured that someone would know.

His party members were all visibly exhausted and thus relieved to find an inn.

"You're quite tenacious in exterminating bugs, aren't you?" groaned Mald, "Not that I can blame you, but did you really have to spend so long?"

"My apologies…" sighed Nick, rubbing the back of his neck, "I tend to become mono-focused when there's something that I feel needs studying. On the bright side, I now know damn near everything about the behaviors of that breed of beetle."

Gerrick coughed awkwardly. "Beggin' your pardon, Sir Hero, but you haven't encountered their leader. Monsters always have a type that's bigger and meaner than the rest, with some nasty tricks up their sleeves."

"Hm."

Making their way through the much emptier streets, the thief led them to a spacious inn. Distantly, he could feel his Journal twinge as the location was added to his mental map. Inside, it was dimly lit, with a few wooden tables off to the side and a long bar with the receptionist busy writing something in a log book.

"How much for a night?" he asked her, pulling out his money pouch.

"A silver per head, sir," she responded, her eyes spotting the jeweled bow slung around his shoulder.

Nodding, he pulled out 4 silvers and handed them over. "Separate rooms, please, if you've got them."

Receiving four keys in return, he tossed one to each of his party members, before heading upstairs to his own room.

Once inside, he sat down with a sigh. Then, glancing at his bow, he opened his Status menu again. Shaking his head in disbelief at his stats, he tabbed over to the Skill menu.

_Skills may be obtained in three ways. Firstly, by performing repeated actions accurately. Second, by spending points obtained by leveling up (Current: 10). Thirdly, certain Bow forms may contain 1 or more rank(s) of a skill._

Nodding to himself, he dismissed that notice and began looking over the web. And it was indeed a web, an interconnected, sprawling mass of nodes, with a few random ones lit up. Sliding over to them with a finger and tapping them, he quickly realized that they represented all the abilities he'd gotten from Risk's CYOAs.

_Mantle of Chiron  
User is drawn towards people of great potential  
Identify the nature of one's potential and how to shape it  
Training speed and results increase by 400%_

"Drawn towards people of great potential, huh?" he muttered, frowning thoughtfully.

As he rubbed his chin in thought, he remembered all the vague comments that people had made about his face all day. He stood up, walking over to a mirror on the wall…and grimaced as he beheld his face for the first time in this world. "Ugh…"

Risk had seen fit to fix his default expression as a near-permanent scowl, with a long, hooked nose and stringy, greasy hair that hung about his face. The stubble on his face only made him look more grizzled. If anyone were to look at his sunken eyes, they might mistake his usual look for something sinister. It reminded him of a certain teacher from a popular fantasy series.

"Shower and shave, definitely on the menu," he sighed, wincing at the ugly expression, "And then, something to cover this up. Christ."

Thinking for a moment, he opened up the Skill menu again, then selected another node.

Magician Class: Allows the user to learn magic.

"Hm. Let's see if I can learn some useful stuff," he muttered, scanning the dim nodes around it. Finding one, he tapped it.

Utility Magic: Allows one to learn spells of mundane utility. Cost: 1 Point.

"Deal."

As he bought the skill, something mysterious suddenly welled up inside him. Impressions of…_something_ pressed into the corners of his mind, simultaneously making the Journal twinge.

However, he also felt a twinge of hunger from his stomach. "Might as well…"

He left his room, locking it and pocketing the key, and went downstairs. As he came down, he noticed that there seemed to be almost an air of tension among the patrons. He frowned. _When someone unusual is around, even the common folk can sense it. Well, that skill did say that I could see a person's potential, so let's try it… __**[Mantle of Chiron.]**_

The room lit up with a swirl of colored auras, all rising to meet his eyes. All around him, as he descended the stairs, the villagers lit up. And for each light, he saw a path. They were mostly mediocre, ending up as a shopkeeper, a merchant, a tailor…

But then he saw a blazing beacon of green. An iron wall, hardened and tempered until it could withstand even the dangers of the heavens.

He blinked, and realized that he was looking at Iwatani Naofumi. He was sitting alone, eating a meal, seemingly unaware of the glances being thrown his way.

Nick smiled and made his way over. Stopping by the bar, he ordered some food and water for himself, and then sat across from the Shield Hero. "Small town."

Naofumi jerked in surprise, looking up at him. "Ah! Um, Nick-san, right?" He gave an uncomfortable smile.

"Yeah, that's right," agreed Nick, giving a wry smile, which faded when the other man cringed slightly. "That bad, is it?"

"Huh?"

"My face."

The Shield Hero jerked as if scolded. "That's-! I mean, well I doubt you would have had time to clean up since you came here…"

Nick snorted. "I think we both know that cleaning up will only do so much, boy." Then he shrugged. "But don't worry about it. Despite what they say, you don't need to be handsome to help others."

Naofumi gave a small laugh, tinged with bitterness. "Right. Help. How am I supposed to do that when it takes me five minutes to kill a balloon demon?"

"Killing is only a part of the equation," Nick told him seriously, "Nowhere near the largest part either. We've been asked to stop the Waves, but who knows what those Waves do to innocents? Haven't heard much, but I'm willing to bet it's nothing good."

"I mean…that's probably true. I don't…understand what you're getting at, though…"

The older man patted the bow on his shoulder. "This thing can dish out damage, but there's only one weapon that's made for keeping suffering at bay." He nodded at the buckler. "I'm betting that that's your role, besides keeping the three of us from dying."

Naofumi's eyes widened. "Um…wow. Thanks, man."

Nick smiled, and this time the other man didn't recoil. "I told you, this isn't my first time doing this. I've had companions, of course, but I've never had other Heroes as equals. Even if we can't journey together, I want to help out in any way that I can."

Naofumi nodded. "I just wish people were friendlier to me."

"Don't we all, but I assume you're being specific?"

"Er, well…I dunno, it just feels like some of the townsfolk have been giving me the cold shoulder. Does the Shield just have that bad of a reputation?"

Best to be honest. "It definitely seems like it," he agreed, "One of my party members is a priest for an establishment called the Church of the Three Heroes, which seems to be the dominant religion around here. As expected, the people are just as quick to listen to the church as they are to believe something bad."

"I…I see."

"Hey, nine times out of ten, a person will trust their personal experiences over doctrine."

"Huh?" Naofumi cocked his head.

"If you save someone, most of the time they're not going to forget that," said Nick, smiling. "Keep saving enough 'someones,' and you will one day be glad that you did."

The man nodded slowly.

Just then, Nick's food arrived, and he dug in eagerly. His first meal in this world was nothing special, but somehow that made it feel special all on its own. Taking the first bite, he could easily taste the difference between this and his most recent world. This one had a bit more salt and spices in it, probably due to lack of reliable refrigeration.

"You, er, mentioned that you have a priest in your party?" asked Naofumi.

"I do. While I do dislike speaking ill of people I've only just met…he's quite sanctimonious. To say nothing of the other two…" Nick cleared his throat and drank some water. "You?"

Naofumi rubbed the back of his head. "What, Myne? She's not bad, been pretty patient with me. She's pretty strong too; took out a balloon in one shot, when it took me five minutes just punching those things." He sighed. "At least it didn't hurt when they bit me. I guess my Defense is good for that at least."

"Hm…well, punching is all well and good, but you've got a big plate of metal strapped to your arm. Try hitting them with that; at the very least you stand a chance of stunning something, opening them up for your ally to finish them."

With a thoughtful look on his face, the Shield Hero nodded slowly, before standing up. "I think I'll head to bed. If today's any indication, I'll have to work hard to level up."

"Find someone else who can do a lot of damage for you. If my leveling up is any indication, good luck finding anything that can actually hurt."

Nick stood up, paying for his meal, before departing as well. As he climbed the stairs his Journal twinged slightly.

Returning to his room, he rooted around and found a basin full of water, which he took over to the mirror. "Okay, let's see how this is supposed to work…" He pulled out his Journal and flipped over to the section that had been added on Utility Magic. "Hm…So I have to more or less create my own incantation. Er…**Converge upon me and smooth out my visage: First Shave?** Is that how it- oh."

His hand became suffused with a faint blue aura. Frowning at it for a moment, he carefully pressed it to his jaw and blinked when he felt his stubble brush away like dust. "Really is convenient…Now what about my hair? **Wash away the dirt and make me clean: First Wash."**

The water in the bowl suddenly surge up and flowed around his head, suds miraculously appearing in it to swirl through his hair, before running down his body under his clothes. Grunting, he opened his Inventory and quickly unequipped his new leathers, causing them to vanish, followed by his outer clothes.

_There're still so many things to look over,_ he thought to himself, giving his status menu one last look, _But there's no need to rush. I can do it tomorrow._

He closed it, and turned over, listening to the sounds of the inn around him. Eventually, he fell asleep.

TBH

Nick yawned as he made his way downstairs. The bar was livelier than usual for early morning, at least by his experience.

"Sir Nick!"

He suppressed a grimace as he heard Mald calling him, and looked around to see his armored party member jogging towards him. "What is it, Mald?" he asked politely, "I was just about to have breakfast."

"There's no time for that. The four heroes are being called to have an audience with the king. It's the Shield Hero, as expected."

"As expect- what?" Nick frowned, but followed Mald out into the street, where a few guards were waiting.

"The Shield Hero is known as the Devil weapon; it was only a matter of time before he crossed a line."

"A matter of… It hasn't even been a full _24 hours yet,_ what the actual _fuck_ are you talking about?!" demanded the Bow Hero, the early morning doing little to help his usual manners.

They quickly made their way through to town to the castle, with the town muttering something the whole way. As they entered the throne room, Nick was horrified to see Naofumi, now wearing a roughly-stitched shirt and surrounded at spear-point by a dozen guards. "What the hell is going on!?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" Naofumi pleaded, "I didn't do anything!"

The Bow Hero gave the King a dark look. "I'm assuming that you have an explanation for this, your majesty." _Because if you don't, then I'm going to be angry._

As he said this, Ren and Motoyasu appeared. Seeing Naofumi in chains, they looked to the king. "What's going on?" Ren asked, inadvertently repeating Nick.

The king waved to the red headed girl to his right, who was crying into her hands. "_Sir_ Iwatani Naofumi," he announced, outright sneering at the title, "You have been accused of one of the most heinous crimes of our nation: sexual assault!"

"What?!" demanded Naofumi, aghast, "By…Myne? But, why?"

"Shut up, you monster!" cried the woman, "You took my own purity!" She rushed to the Spear Hero and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder. "Sir Motoyasu!"

The Spear Hero immediately held her tight, giving Naofumi a filthy look. "Naofumi, you son of a bitch!"

"I didn't do anything!" The bound man screamed.

"Liar!" she spat at him. "I was in my room about...two hours after sundown, before he broke in suddenly! He must have been drunk, I could smell it on him while he attacked me! I only barely managed to get away, but he tore my nightgown! Sir Motoyasu was there, he saw when I came to him!"

Motoyasu clearly thinking with his other head scowled. "That's right, she looked like a frightened rabbit. I can't believe one of the Heroes would do such a thing!"

"I didn't!" Naofumi protested, looking around at the others, "Do you honestly think that I'm the kind of guy who would…?"

"We don't really know you at all," Ren pointed out coldly, "Your story of how you were summoned is rather suspicious on its own, but given that there's supposedly precedent for the Shield being disliked…"

Nick, however, frowned thoughtfully at the sobbing Myne. Then he spoke up. "I have a question."

Everyone looked at him. "Ah…y-yes?" she asked tremulously.

"You said that this was two hours after sundown, correct?"

"Yes?"

His frown deepened. "Interesting. Your majesty, are Doppelgangers a known phenomenon in this world?"

The King started at being addressed so suddenly. "Doppelgangers…? What kind of nonsense are you-?"

"My apologies, sire, but it's the only explanation that makes sense to me," said Nick, smiling self-deprecatingly. Simultaneously, he pulled his Journal from his pocket and flipped open to the page he was looking for. "Yes… Because, at the time that Miss Myne described being attacked, from 8:21 to around 9:30, I myself was having a discussion with Sir Naofumi, during which I did not witness him drinking. In fact, when I offered to buy him one, he declined, citing that he disliked alcohol."

Naofumi looked around at him, his desperate eyes wide.

"In addition, Miss Myne, pardon me if this is a social faux pas, but might I inquire as to what your level might be?"

Myne was goggling at him, clearly thrown off by his stern, neutral questioning. "I'm…a Level 5, Sir Nick."

"Interesting," murmured the Bow Hero, calling up his own status, "You see, miss, while we Heroes are unfamiliar with the exact mechanics of this world's Status magic, I myself have leveled up a few times today, and witnessed a meteoric rise in everything except my Defensive stats. If the same holds true for Sir Naofumi…well, he himself told me how strong you are." He gave her a small, patient smile, though judging by how her face reddened, some condescension may have leaked through. "So, forgive me if I seem a little obtuse, but…how could you only barely get away from a man who takes several minutes just to kill a Balloon?"

This caused some people to glance at the girl, who looked shaken, assuming it was the trauma rearing its ugly head. Nick, however, was still waiting to hear a plausible answer, but something told him it would not be forthcoming.

"Enough of this pointless interrogation!" The king ordered roughly. "The only reason you're not being executed is because you are the Shield Hero! But know this, the whole nation will be informed of your crime today, Iwatani Naofumi. You will find that no upright citizen in Melromarc will ever harbor a criminal like you!"

The chains holding Naofumi down were unlocked. He slowly stood up, looking around at the gathered Heroes and guards. Motoyasu looked thoroughly unconvinced by Nick poking holes in Myne's story, and was instead glaring at Nick now, as if appalled at his questioning. Ren, on the other hand, was frowning in thought, though he remained silent.

"Even if no citizen will not harbor him," said Nick loudly, "The fact remains that he is one of the four Heroes, and I remain unconvinced that he has done anything to disgrace that title."

The King turned his full attention to the Bow Hero. "Be careful what sort of games you play, Sir Nick," he growled lowly, "I may decide to punish you for abetting this criminal."

Nick laughed, a loud, long laugh that made everyone jump. "Games? Your majesty, you've just attempted to sabotage one of the four Heroes, who you yourself proclaimed to be the key to repelling the Dungeon Waves. Am I _really_ the one playing games?"

"To hell with you!" Naofumi suddenly shouted at the king, "If you don't want me around, then just send me home already, or kill me!"

A shudder ran down Nick's spine at the helpless frustration in his voice.

"I would most dearly love to," sneered the old man, "But the Legendary Heroes can only be summoned all at once. If one of them were to die, then the difficulty of the Dungeons would increase exponentially, and new ones may only be summoned after the current four are dead."

Naofumi only scoffed, then turned to leave, his fists clenched.

Nick stayed for a moment, giving Aultcray a chilly stare. "I don't know what sort of vendetta you have against the Shield Hero, your majesty," he drawled, "But I do believe that it has just cost you in the long run."

"_Are you threatening me?!"_ snarled the monarch, jumping to his feet. The guards all turned to aim their spears at him, though none of them advanced.

"Oh, no!" protested Nick, chuckling as he spread his hands, "Threats are beneath me. I'm merely stating what I've observed. You are the one who called us all here, yes, and given us the responsibility of saving your country." His smile vanished. "I'm quite sure you don't need me telling you that we're the only ones who can truly uphold that responsibility."

He turned on his heel and stalked from the hall, the look on his face making the soldiers back away.

"Let's go," he told his Party members flatly.

"I will _not,"_ said Deaurep coldly, stopping him, "Support a man who would stand with the Shield."

Mald only looked down his nose at Nick. "I likewise cannot trust a man who would come to the defense of a convicted criminal. How can such a person be a Hero of Justice?"

Nick stopped, and looked at them over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. He only asked, "And you, Gerrick?"

The Thief shook his head violently and said nothing.

"Very well. Good day."

He left without another word, ignoring the notifications of the three men leaving his Party.

**TBH**

**AN: And there we have it! Nick could not help Naofumi avoid his fate, but at the very least, he fought for him and demonstrated trust in him, based on his own interactions with him.**

**In the process, he's earned the ire of Aultcray for himself, and lost his own companions.**

**In other news, here are Nick's stats at Level 3.**

**HP: 177  
MP: 1518  
SP: 38  
ATK: 145  
DEF: 3 (+12)  
HIT: 298  
SPD: 165  
INT: 138  
RES: 18  
Points: 9**

**When I said that he runs on a Disgaea system, I goddamn meant it. However, I will be applying this type of growth (albeit to a lesser extent) to the world in general. Thus, lower levels are more common, and having to Class Up will be even more of an achievement. **

**The Points may be applied to Nick's attributes or used to unlock (though NOT increase) Skills, provided he meets certain requirements.**

**If you wish to see further updates on his status, I will continue to post these at the end of subsequent chapters.**

**There are many, many more systems of power that Nick possesses, which will be shown in later chapters**

**If you liked this chapter, or have any questions, please leave a review or send me a PM.**

**North South Out.**


	3. Your Shield

**AN: And here we go with Chapter 3. I'm really on a roll with this.**

**Review Responses**

**Guest 1: True, Nick might not NEED allies like Naofumi does, but having a good-sized party can still be a benefit, judging by how Ren ended up falling behind in canon. As for Motoyasu, I agree. It'll be rather difficult to write him properly without it seeming like bashing.**

**Zero: …You'll see~**

**Guest 2: Actually, yes. The users of the Legendary Weapons are not allowed to pick up and use any other weapon. They get shocked if they try. As for the betrayal thing, yeah no, the accusation is canon. Nick helping Naofumi is me trying to make it better.**

**Guest 3: I did think of that, but I'm unsure of how to go about doing it.**

**The Thinker: As quickly as he can, though it takes at least a month for him to unlock new Stones/threads.**

"Speech"  
Text  
_Thoughts  
__System  
_**Accursed/Divine  
****Spell/Skill/Attack**

Chapter 3: Your Shield

'The Shield Hero assaulted his female companion.' (False)

Nick sighed irritably, snapping his journal shut. In a matter of hours, it seemed that the rumor had spread through practically the entire town, making it common knowledge and thus something that his Lore ability would pick up. Even without looking in the book, he caught snatches of conversation, full of scorn and condemnation.

The King had, sadly, been completely right. Thanks to Myne's accusations, Naofumi had almost instantly become Persona Non Grata in the capital, though curiously neither they nor the Journal said anything about Nick standing up for him. This would not do at all.

Sitting down on a barrel in an alleyway, Nick opened his Journal again. _Come on, Lore, tell me what the people know. Give me something that'll give Naofumi a chance!_

The Journal flipped to a blank page, settling for a moment, before ink began to stain the paper, his own handwriting appearing before his eyes.

The humans of Melromarc have a heavy hatred for Demi-humans.

His eyes narrowed. _What are Demi-humans?_

More Lore filtered in. Demi-humans are people who bear animal traits. Their maturity is tied not only to their age, but also their Level, likening them to monsters.

His already sour expression darkened further. _If they're discriminated against, in this sort of society, that could mean…_

The enslavement of monsters and Demi-humans is legal, but publicly frowned upon.

Nick swore. _As expected._ He stood up. _Well, I still have mapping to do for this town._

TBH

For the next two hours, he wandered the main streets of the town, his gaze sweeping around to fill out as much of his mental map as possible and memorizing the locations of any possible stores. The people steered clear of him whenever they caught a glimpse of his stony face. This was fine for Nick at the moment, as he had nothing to say to them.

Once he'd finished surveying the streets, he searched his maps for any deep alleyways that he hadn't already mapped from a glance and headed for those. _A slaver wouldn't dare put himself out in the open, where the public would scorn him,_ he thought.

Sure enough, the Bow Hero soon followed an alley into an area that he had not even noticed before, a cleverly hidden courtyard of sorts, hidden by taller stone buildings. A huge purple tent had been erected in this spot, taking up most of it. A short, rather rotund man in a suit stood outside the front, grinning widely. A monocle glinted in one of his beady eyes.

"Oh? So even one of the illustrious Legendary Heroes has come to me. The Bow Hero, if I'm not mistaken?"

"You're not mistaken," said Nick coolly, eyes narrowed. "You have a name, I presume?"

The portly man chuckled, doffing his hat and revealing a tuft of dark hair. "Certainly, sir Hero. I am called Beloukas, purveyor of…well, you already know what I provide, don't you? You have that look."

For once, Nick's face matched his mood as he stared at him. "Indeed. However, I would like to hear you say it."

Beloukas shrugged. "Very well. I trade in slaves. The good people of Melromarc do look down upon such a trade, but the bad ones will pay good money."

"As is always the case," agreed Nick tersely, "Tell me, how are slaves treated in this world?"

The ever-present smile shrank slightly. "A slave is property, no more, no less. They are bound to their master by a magic seal, which punishes them if they disobey."

The Bow user closed his eyes, breathing deep and nodding slowly. "I see…so a slave owner would have no reason to care about a slave's happiness." He glared at the trader. "Here's a bit of business advice: if a slave is happy and healthy, then they will likely not need such a seal. A happy slave is a loyal one."

"Hm…if you say so, sir Hero," replied the man, shrugging, "However, any future buyers might not heed such advice."

Nick grunted. "I'm not here to buy for the moment. Instead, I'm here to gauge whether or not your…_wares_ will be a good fit for an associate of mine."

"The Shield Hero, yes?"

He gave Beloukas a gimlet eye.

The slave merchant only grinned wider. "I deal not only in the trade of slaves, but also of information, my good sir! There's not a soul who hasn't heard of the Shield Hero's plight by now."

Sighing, Nick nodded. "Now that I might just have a use for. As for your slaves…"

Glancing towards the opening of the tent, he activated the Mantle of Chiron, feeling a wave of pressure flow over him and outwards. Beloukas himself now bore the image of a chain and collar, mostly solidified.

Walking among the massive cages lined up along the insides of the tent, Nick scanned the slaves for their future potential. Most looked thoroughly beaten down and, or very weak spirited, their potentials weak and indistinct. Nick's heart ached at the sight of the demi-humans, who indeed looked just like humans but with animal features, huddled limply against the bars, trying to make themselves unnoticeable. However, he moved on; as things stood, he lacked the resources necessary to help all of these slaves.

_I need someone who would be a good match for the Shield Hero,_ he thought. Then he paused as he saw something. An upthrust sword, covered in rust. However, as he focused on it, a green shield glowed behind it, and the rust began to peel away, revealing glowing, black and white steel. Approaching this sign and switching off his Skill, he saw a young girl slumped in a cage. Her brown hair was tangled and unkempt, and a bushy racoon tail trailed behind her. She was gaunt and skinny, clearly underfed.

"Ah…that's my cheapest one," sighed Beloukas, "Racoon demi-humans aren't very popular to begin with. They're prone to poor health, you see. This one's gone through three masters already; she hasn't long to live, since she's gotten sick, and she has frequent nightmares."

The Bow Hero said nothing, stepping back to make sure that the young girl couldn't see his face. At this point, it would only make her even more afraid of her situation. "…You said you sell information? Tell me, then, why are the upper echelons so sour on the Shield Hero? This whole business smells of something that's been building for years."

The merchant hummed. "Well, this information isn't something that's completely secret, but not many people know it. I'll tell you for 15 silvers."

Nick snorted bitterly, pulling out the money and tossing it over.

Pocketing it, Beloukas grinned widely and immediately explained, "You may have heard, of course, that you and your three fellows are not the first Heroes of the Legendary Weapons. The past Hero of the Shield is not remembered with fondness by the nobility, because he sided with and gave aid to the Demi-humans, to the point that the Shield is worshipped today in the country of Siltvelt. That's to our Northeast, several Kingdoms away."

"It wouldn't explain the outright scorn I felt from the King. Even with demi-human discrimination, that felt _personal."_

The trader spread his hands. "Perhaps so, Sir Hero. However, that information is worth far more than you've paid me."

Rolling his eyes, Nick turned and strode away, heading for the exit of the tent. "Well, maybe in the future I'll come asking again. In the meantime, if the Shield Hero comes by here, be sure to keep the girl for him. And deal fairly with him, won't you?"

"Keheheh…" Beloukas chortled, waddling after him. "Not to worry, my good man. In dark businesses such as these, fairness must be upheld. After all, if you cannot trust my prices, who could I sell to?"

TBH

"Balloon demons? Ah, they're over past the western wall."

Nodding in thanks, Nick walked away from the vendor he'd asked, following the main streets towards indicated wall. The guards at the gate gave him a cursory glance, but upon sighting the bow over his shoulder, they let him through without protest.

Here, the landscape spread out into a rolling landscape. Short hills dotted with trees and small brooks expanded beyond his vision. Speaking of which, as he wandered, Nick found himself picking up tiny movements in the distance. Little orange and yellow balls with snarling faces bounced around on the grass, pouncing on each other and just all around wandering just as aimlessly as him. _I wonder if my HIT stat is also tied to my eyesight?_ he thought to himself, _Would certainly make sense for increasing accuracy._

His musings were cut short when he heard a familiar voice screaming out in frustration. Jogging over, Nick came upon a pitiful sight.

Dozens of orange Balloons were pouncing on Naofumi, gnashing their teeth at him ineffectively with cartoonish scowls. However, no matter how many piled onto him, the young man barely seemed able to notice, flailing and punching as hard as he could at the ones he could reach, sending them sailing away. Judging by the looks on their faces, Nick could see that they weren't even phased by his hits. Even the ones he slammed full-on with his shield just stopped and wobbled about dazedly in place.

The Bow Hero sighed, his heart heavy as he watched, pulling out one of the plain, sharpened wooden sticks that his Bow called Normal Arrows. Inevitably, some of the tiny monsters tired of gnawing ineffectively on Naofumi, and noticed him instead, bounding over with faint growls. With their bouncing arcs, it was easy for Nick to predict their movements and sidestep them, shanking them with the arrow as they passed. With his higher ATK, they all burst, leaving behind only rubbery scraps, but no other body parts for some reason. Sadly, the EXP indicator that popped up only told him that he'd gotten nothing.

Legendary Weapons repel each other. Please endeavor to grow strong independently.

_So that's how it works,_ thought Nick, going back to watching Naofumi.

Eventually, Naofumi grew exhausted and collapsed. Seeing the balloons scurrying away, Bow Hero walked over and sat down next to him. "Hey."

Naofumi looked up, his visage still sour. "Nick."

"Guess it was true, the Shield Hero didn't get a lot of attack stats."

The teen scoffed bitterly. "This whole thing has been a shitshow. First I get taken to another world against my will, then that bitch…that bitch…!" He slammed his fist against the ground.

"Yeah," agreed Nick quietly, "It sucks."

"Do you even know what it feels like?" he challenged angrily, "To not even be given a chance? Not one of them would listen! None of them! They can all go to hell for all I care!"

Nick just looked at him. "Yes."

"Huh?"

"I do understand," he elaborated, his voice steady, "I told you, didn't I? I've been through more worlds and lifetimes than I care to count. Do you really think I haven't been betrayed before? Sure, having it happen right from the get-go is a new experience, but I _am_ capable of empathy. Even besides that, there's still one unavoidable fact."

Naofumi turned his head away. "What?"

"Without Heroes, innocent people will die."

The Shield Hero did not respond.

"Look, I'm not buying this rape story, not until her story stops having gaping holes in it. Not only that, but I did some digging; you shouldn't be surprised to know that the higher-ups have a deep-seated grudge against the Shield."

"Why?" asked Naofumi dully.

"It has to do with a race called Demi-humans. People with animal traits. They're not liked in this country, and the previous Shield Hero was nice to them."

The younger man's fist clenched. "How the hell is that my problem?!"

"It shouldn't be. But since you got summoned with his weapon, it's become your problem," grunted Nick, "People can be assholes, doesn't matter what world it is. What matters is how you roll with the punches. We've been given the title of Hero, but a Hero isn't what we are."

Finally Naofumi looked up at him, frowning. "Not what we…well, what is a hero then?"

"Being a Hero comes from what we do." Nick stood up, reaching down for him. "A kingdom's true power lies in its people. Right now, the people only know the rumor handed down by the king. But if you go out there and be a proper Hero, then they'll start to trust their own experience over his word."

For a moment, Naofumi lay on the ground, pondering his words. "What if they just think I'm trying to trick people?" he asked, tentatively reaching up to grab his hand and sitting up, "A guy with a reputation like mine, suddenly helping people? Who's gonna buy that?"

Nick pulled him fully to his feet. "You can't think like that; otherwise, you'll just trap yourself in a mire of paranoia and bitterness. I can't say that people won't definitely think that. If there's one thing I know from all my years, it's that people are different, no matter whether they're good or evil. You wanna know what trait most heroes have?"

"Not really," deadpanned Naofumi, "But I guess you'll tell me anyway."

Nick rolled his eyes and smacked him upside the head. "Shaddup. Anyway, a hero keeps getting back up and keeps trying, no matter what."

"Even if it doesn't look like there's any point?"

"That's when you need to do that the most," he told him seriously, "Because when you stop getting up, that's when you really lose."

Naofumi was stunned into silence. He rubbed his head, where Nick had slapped him and for the first time, the frustrated, helpless scowl on his face lessened. "...Thanks. For believing that I…that I could still be good."

"Like I said, her story had too many holes. Besides, my own experience tells me that you couldn't have done it." Nick winked at him meaningfully. "Now, for all my pretty words, the fact remains that you need someone at your side to fight for you. An unfortunate fact with the current social climate, but there it is."

The Shield Hero's face fell. "Yeah. I fought a Red balloon earlier, before all the little ones came out. I couldn't even make a dent on him. You probably could, though.

"Yeah well, that's not gonna work. Like the king said, we can't work together, or we won't grow stronger at all."

"Damn it, then where am I gonna find someone?"

Nick gave a long, deep sigh. "Oh, I have an idea."

"What is it?" asked Naofumi, snagging the proverbial lifeline.

"Normally I wouldn't tell you, but since you genuinely have no other option…"

"Just tell me already, old man!"

Nick looked him dead in the eye. "You must buy a slave."

That stopped the Shield Hero's enthusiasm dead in its tracks. "A…a slave…?"

He nodded gravely. "Yes. It turns out that the slavery of Demi-humans is legal in Melromarc. Looked down on, but totally legal."

For a long, painful moment, Naofumi remained silent, his expression contorting with disgust and self-loathing. Finally he bit out, "I really…don't have a choice, do I…?"

"Naofumi."

He looked up when Nick grabbed his attention.

"You come from a modern Earth like I did, don't you?"

"Y-yeah?"

"So you understand that slavery is an evil that must never be truly condoned."

"Of course…!"

Nick gave a tired, bitter smile. "Then any slave you get will be in good hands."

Naofumi looked away. "Quit sounding like a proud parent. You're talking about slavery."

"Hah. That's true. Anyway, I found the slave trader's tent in town just a while ago."

"Wh-why would you-?"

The look on Nick's face was the only answer he needed. So instead, he continued, "I like to think that I have a special talent for identifying a person's potential. Well, less of a talent, more of a supernatural skill, but that's beside the point. When you find the merchant, tell him to show you his cheapest slave and then buy her. It won't be easy, but this slave can be invaluable. Just treat her like a person and she'll blossom."

"She?" Naofumi flinched.

"Yes, she. People are different, remember? She's nothing like that woman. She's scared, timid, and weak. She needs someone to believe in her, just like you need someone watching your back."

"And if she decides to stab it instead?" asked Naofumi, suspicion creeping up in his eyes.

Nick flicked him on the forehead. "First of all, you're the goddamn Shield Hero. You've got a tough back. Second, she's probably about as weak as you are right now, and if you treat her kindly, you'll never have to worry about that. Thirdly, and most prudently," the Bow Hero grimaced at admitting this, "Slaves are given magic seals to prevent them from disobeying their masters in this world."

The younger man bit his lip, eyes darting about in thought, but this time with much less suspicion. "Fine. I'll…I'll give it a shot."

"That's all anyone can ask," sighed Nick. Then something occurred to him. "Ah, also, before you go…" He dug into his pocket and pulled out a handful of gems, handing them over to Naofumi. "Here ya go."

Naofumi's eyes widened. "O-oi, what are these?!"

"Let's just say that being an Isekai veteran comes with its perks," snorted Nick, smirking, "Don't worry, I won't miss those. Absorb 'em with your shield or sell them, I don't really care."

Naofumi looked down at the gems piled in his hands, before pocketing them. "I...don't know what to say. Thank you…for believing in me."

Nick chuckled. "Anytime, Naofumi. See ya around."

TBH

"Ah, hello there…! Eh?" The shopkeeper waved from behind the counter, only for her cheery smile to fade slightly at the sight of Nick's face. "Er…how can I help you, sir?"

Nick sighed tiredly at her reaction. "Could you recommend something to cover my face? I'd like to be more approachable, but I think on my end it's a bit of a lost cause."

She blinked slowly at him, clearly trying to process his words. As he looked closer, he noticed that she had shadows under her eyes, plus she seemed a little dazed. "Ah, erm…r-right…sorry, I was up all night coming up with new designs, please excuse me…"

"It's fine," said Nick patiently, waving her off, "Do you have any scarves? Preferably one that doesn't completely clash." Function and practicality was all well and good, but the man also understood that if there was one thing that people would remember and recognize about a hero, it was his appearance.

Thus, by the time he left the store, the Bow Hero now bore a bright yellow scarf, wrapped around the lower half of his face. In addition, he had pulled his long gray hair back and tied it off with a ribbon to make a small ponytail. Looking at himself in the mirror, he nodded in satisfaction; with just his eyes visible, their narrow look was no longer inherently hostile.

As he headed back towards the inn, he opened his status menu and tabbed over to his Inventory. Along with a diagram that showed his currently-equipped state, it also bore a prominent grid full empty boxes, five of which were somehow already filled.

Arcanite (4)  
Dreamer's Guard (4)  
Evanescent (4)  
Forgestone (4)  
Verdant Seed (4)

All five of those names he recognized; back when Risk had given him the CYOAs, he had chosen them from the list of gems provided in the Socket CYOA. _So the three a day counted as starting from yesterday. Counting the two of each I gave Naofumi, that still leaves me with plenty._

He quickly arrived back at the inn, tossing the receptionist another silver before heading back up to his room. Once inside, he reached into his pocket and pulled out all 20 of the gems, laying them on the room's small table. "Right, let's see, how do these things work…?"

He pulled out his Journal and opened it. "What do you have to say about all this, then?"

Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of information written down.

Socketing

Socketing is a method by which the user can strengthen objects using Magic Gems. All things contain anywhere from 1 to 6 sockets by default, depending on their complexity, size and quality.

Gems

As a Bronze Spirit Gemcrafter, you have been provided with 4 gem types (plus Forgestone), of which you will receive 3 every day. It is possible to gain more gem types in the future. Each gem carries its own unique properties, which will be used to enhance whatever they are socketed into. It is up to the Gemcrafter to determine how those properties will be expressed upon being Socketed. However, most gems contain certain abilities _(Highlighted below)_ that may be accessed and used freely from a socketed gem.

Nick nodded to himself. This information had mostly been indicated in the CYOA already, though the latter half was something he hadn't known. He flipped to the next page, looking for the reported elaboration on his collection of gems. At the same time, he picked up the first, its violet surface glimmering and flickering with brilliant light. It was almost hard to look away from.

Arcanite: Bestows _raw magical power_, otherworldly wisdom and supernatural Guidance. Its power is mysterious and unpredictable.

"...Not very helpful," he sighed, shaking his head, "But I guess it will be a boon however I use it." He shifted to the next one, another violet crystal, but the light within ran gentle streamers around the circumference, tracing its lines.

Dreamer's Guard: Bestows _Sleep inducement,_ creativity and protection of the mind. It also contains a _small mental plane._

This one was much more promising. _A mental plane? That's bound to have some sort of application. And mental protection is almost always a must in more dangerous areas._ The third stone was a clear, pale blue, and seemed damp to the touch, almost wanting to slip through his fingers.

Evanescent: Bestows speed, clarity and 'immaterial quality.' Can also _create a vapor that obscures the senses._

Nick glanced at the bow on his shoulder. "I can see how that would be useful. As for obscuring senses...what sort of senses does that extend to…?" The fourth gem was a dull, dark brown, and rubbing it caused his fingers to come away with a soot.

Forgestone: Bestows tempering, enhancing and repairing. In addition, the stone can be used to _permanently enhance an object_, but this can only be done once per stone.

Ironically, given the previous stone, the wording of this one left him feeling decidedly unsure on how the listed qualities might manifest, apart from 'repairing.'

But it was the final gem that truly caught his interest. Picking it up, it seemed almost porous and squishy, covered in what seemed like a thin layer of moss.

Verdant Seed: Grants stamina, healing and sustenance. _Can also be used to create short-lived magical flora._

Under his scarf, a broad grin slowly spread across Nick's face. There wasn't a single one of those abilities that couldn't be useful in this world. "Now, let's try it out," he said out loud, standing up. Pulling off his new scarf, he held it out, staring intently at the bright yellow wool.

Would you like to Socket this item? Y/N

His eyebrows quirked as a system message popped up, but he only nodded, dismissing it. A moment later, there came a pulse in the air. The space above the scarf rippled and stretched, distorting into a pair of small holes along its length. Setting it down carefully, he looked at his collection of gems. "Let's see...which of these would work for a scarf?" he wondered.

He picked out a Forgestone, turning it over. "Never hurts to have self-repairing clothing," he commented. "And a clearer mind would be good too."

Holding the grittier stone in his hand for a moment, he focused on the image of the scarf repairing itself from any damage. Then, he lowered it to the floating hole and dropped it in. It slotted neatly inside with a satisfying *KTINK!* and a flash of light.

Nodding in satisfaction, he took one of the clear blue Evanescent gems next and dropped it into the other slot. *KTINK!*

Then he clapped his hands together, causing the holes in space to snap shut. The scarf began to glow, and the bright yellow woven threads began to shift slightly. They quickly smoothed out, gaining an almost metallic sheen, though a few jagged blue stripes cut through the yellow.

Nodding in satisfaction, he opened his Inventory and unequipped his armor and boots. He grimaced as they rippled for a moment, before miraculously vanishing from his body and reappearing on the table. "Right now, what should I put here? Well, if it's gonna on my body armor, let's stick some healing in there."

Focusing on his leather armor, three sockets opened in the chest, arranged in a triangle. Picking up two Verdant Seeds, he slotted them into the uppermost holes, before dropping a Forgestone into the third. Like with his scarf, self-repairing armor was a no-brainer. Upon closing the sockets, the armor flashed, gaining coppery filigree around the edges and patches of bright green moss on its surface.

For his boots, while each had two slots, he only gave each one a single Evanescent. For his right boot, he concentrated on being granted a speed boost by the gem, while the Evanescent in the left boot would grant 'immaterial quality' by dampening any sound his feet made. The boots shined, before the leather took on an iridescent, blue-white sheen, especially around the edges.

The arm-guards likewise possessed two sockets. This time he filled both, slotting an Arcanite into one on each bracer, before setting a Dreamer's Guard into one, turning it a glowing purple, and a Verdant Seed into the other, causing the violet surface to become carved with thorny vines.

"Well, that's everything my equipment can handle," he commented to himself, reequipping everything, "Now, what to do with the leftovers?"

Remembering his early off-hand comment to Naofumi, he glanced at his bow. "Hm…" Picking up the last Evanescent, he held it to the gem at the front. That same magic circle from before appeared, causing the blue gem to crumble away, the pieces dissolving into light and being sucked into the larger gem. The bow began to glow brightly, before morphing into a sleek, pale blue weapon.

New Bow unlocked: Evanescent Bow

Evanescent Recurve Bow  
Rarity: Uncommon  
Ability: 150% SPD, Clear Sight 1, Piercing 1, Obscuring Fog 1  
Type bonus: +50 ATK  
Sockets: 6

Nick grinned. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Without hesitation he began feeding each of his other gems to the bow.

Arcanite Flatbow Unlocked  
Dreamer's Guard Longbow Unlocked  
Forgestone Compound Bow Unlocked  
Verdant Seed Shortbow Unlocked

He nodded in satisfaction at the collection he'd quickly amassed. Now when he next leveled up, he wouldn't have to worry about getting bonuses from a bunch of weak bows, at least for the next few levels. Deciding to take a break, he walked out of his room and headed downstairs. The bar area was noticeably quiet and a cursory glance told me why. Naofumi had sat down at a table by the wall. He now wore a large green cloak and was hunched over, glowering around the room.

Seated next to him, still looking pale and wan, but much less lifeless than earlier, was the racoon girl. She seemed to be trying to make herself as small as possible, huddling next to the Shield Hero and shaking.

Nick made his way over, noting that nobody seemed to spare him a second glance despite his bright clothing. "You found her alright," he commented, sitting down across from Naofumi.

The man grunted sourly, not meeting his eye. Even so, the other Hero could see that there was guilt weighing him down.

Deciding that that was a fair answer, Nick glanced at the slave girl. "Did you keep her crest, then?"

Finally, Naofumi answered. "I did. I absorbed some of the ink the guy used to make it; got a Shield that makes slaves 'grow' faster, probably for strength. If she's gonna be fighting for me, then I'd better give her all the advantages I get." He glowered at Nick as if daring him to challenge the decision.

However, the Bow Hero only sighed and nodded. "I understand." Then he glanced at the girl, who was fidgeting at being talked about, and gave her a smile, though she could only see his eyes with the scarf in the way. "What's your name, girl?"

She flinched, biting her lip and glancing up at her new master. "What? You don't need my permission to answer," grunted Naofumi.

"Y-yes, sir! Um…m-my name is Raphtalia." She gave a small cough, which nonetheless shook her skinny body.

"Raphtalia," he murmured, memorizing her name. "Do you know why Naofumi has bought you?" The words tasted like ashes in his mouth.

She shrank in on herself, fingering a short sword buckled at her side. "...Yes. He's the Shield Hero, and I have to fight for him."

"That's right," sighed Naofumi, his face sagging tiredly. Then, jerkily, awkwardly, he patted her shoulder, making her flinch. "You'll have to be my sword, since I can't carry one. But, if you're scared that something's gonna hit you…just hide behind me. I'm tough enough to take some hits, at least."

Raphtalia looked up at him and for the first time, I saw a life-like glint in the little demi-human's eye. "...Yes sir."

Nick outright grinned. "Well, look at you."

"What?" asked Naofumi grumpily.

The Bow Hero just shrugged, still smiling widely. "Nothing. It's just amazing to see it from the outside; your first 'someone.'"

The dark-haired man opened his mouth to retort, but then stopped as his words registered. He looked at Raphtalia as if only just noticing her, and the look of guilt lifted just a bit from his own face. "...Maybe."

Nick chuckled, making to stand up.

"Wait, Nick."

He stopped, giving Naofumi his attention.

"Earlier, when I absorbed the balloons, my shield changed," began the Shield Hero, "But it wasn't just for them; I also unlocked a form from absorbing leaves. You said that your help menu said something about that, right? I think that you might get stuff from more than just monsters."

Nick frowned thoughtfully. "You don't say? That's good to know, actually. In return, let me tell you, my new Bows all came with different Rarities. Even going from Common to Uncommon is a big jump."

Naofumi furrowed his brow. "I don't remember seeing anything like that…but if you say that you saw something like that, then…I'll try giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"No problem. If we find out anything more, we'll let each other know the next time we meet," promised the Bow Hero, standing up, "Seeya round."

"Yeah."

TBH

"Well, that's upgrades taken care of," he muttered to himself, scratching his head, "Now to see how I do solo."

He headed North again, back to where he'd first had his battles with his former party. He figured that Gerrick's words about a boss monster might help him. Simultaneously, he activated Mantle of Chiron. If his ability to be 'drawn to others of great potential' worked along the lines of fate, perhaps he might run into someone out in the wilds.

With his mental map, it was easy for him to return to where he'd been, moving deeper into the woods. It had quieted significantly since the beetle infestation in that area had been dealt with, but there surely was more to the woods than met the eye.

He clambered over a boulder, scanning his surroundings quickly. A small stream ran to his left, but otherwise no sound save the rustling of the trees.

"Strange…I would think the animals would have returned," Nick muttered, unslinging his bow and transforming it into its Evanescent form. "Ah. Naofumi did mention that he got stuff from more than monster materials… **[Mage Hand.]"**

Magic swirled around his empty hand, forming into a ghostly echo of it. With a gesture, it floated up into the trees and grabbed a couple leaves, bringing them back to him. He absorbed them into his bow immediately.

Leaf Broadhead Arrow unlocked.

Leaf Broadhead Arrow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: +5 ATK, 10% damage over time, Absorption Quality 1  
Sockets: 1

His expression brightened. _Finally_ he could use something besides those sharp sticks he'd started with! Looking around, he spotted several small white mushrooms growing on a nearby tree. Casting out his Mage Hand again, he plucked them up and eagerly fed them to his weapon as well.

Mushroom Arrow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: Blunted Attack, Random Spore Puff 1, Plant Appraisal 1  
Sockets: 1

"Blunted attack?" Frowning, he pulled out an arrow and focused on switching, causing the tip to transform into a round white mushroom cap. He tapped it experimentally and squeezed it, discovering that it was quite squishy. "Ah. Well that makes sense."

As he observed his new arrow, a twig behind him snapped. Without even thinking he vaulted into the air, flipping around and nocking the arrow.

Out of the woods charged a large, shadowy form, easily the size of a wolf, the dimming light glinting off a hard, dark carapace. A pair of mandibles, curved and wickedly barbed, extended from the front, clicking and ringing out like steel. Its six legs were massive, covered in prickly armor, each jerky step it took shaking the ground, the clawed tips piercing the ground

His Journal pulsed as a new entry was added. Somehow, he knew that this was the beetles' boss.

He loosed the mushroom arrow, sending it streaking towards the insect's head…only to bounce off with a *poff*. A tiny cloud of spores lingered, but something told Nick that it would do little. Even so, the massive beetle bunched up a little, as if anticipating something more harmful. Using its momentary hesitation, he pulled out a handful of his broadhead arrows and began firing. To his displeasure, they too bounced off its shell, the tips only lightly scratching the surface.

Groaning in dismay, he realized that he could see a small message in the bottom left corner of his vision. Beginning battle: Herculean Stag Beetle, Lv. 7. "Damnit, a difference of four levels makes it that difficult?!" he growled. "And here I am all alone, this is gonna suck!"

Just then, the beetle charged at him without any windup, its multi-jointed legs pumping with the twitchiness associated with an insect. Nick leaped upwards, only barely avoiding its pincers as they scythed shut around where he'd been.

"If I know anything about my defense, I better stay back," he grunted, landing heavily on its back. However, he was forced to jump away again when its shell sprang open, revealing a massive pair of transparent wings. "Of course it flies…but maybe it's weaker underneath!" He fired off another arrow, aiming for the iridescently-shining body underneath.

Its wings blurred, kicking up a gust of wind and dust that made him flinch. In that moment, the beetle vanished, the dust hiding its movement.

"Fuck!" Nick cursed trying to clear the dust from his eyes. He stumbled back, relying on his mental map, and jumped up, hoping to take refuge on one of the branches. However, as he reached out…his hand grasped nothing. _I misjudged!_

Then a tremendous weight _SMASHED_ into his chest, driving the breath from his lungs as he was slammed back into the very tree he'd tried to take refuge in. As he was pushed back, the beetle snapped at him with its large pincers. Fortunately, the tree trunk behind him seemed to be tough enough to stop its bite, but the Bow Hero nevertheless bit back a yell as the edges bit deeply into his sides. Blood soaked his hands as he grasped them, trying to prize them apart, panting and gasping as pain flared up in his torso. In the corner of his vision, a red bar flashed in warning. "Am I seriously…supposed to die on my second day?!" he gasped.

The beetle's wings buzzed like a saw, getting ready to drive itself even further towards the heavily, its mandibles gnashing and dripping with saliva.

"_I DON'T GODDAMN THINK SO!"_

Shoving the pincers back just a bit and cursing as they bit into his palms, Nick seized an arrow from his quiver and yanked it out. Falling forward, he slammed the arrowhead into the edge of one of its huge compound eyes.

It bucked and writhed, releasing the tree and leaping back with its twitchy, powerful legs, lurching back and forth in the air drunkenly and filling the air with a furious clattering and whirring.

Nick stood up, raising his bow and pulling out more arrows, only for his knees to buckle. _Now what…?_ he looked down at himself, only to see two huge gashes along his sides_ Oh damn…oh, that's a lot of blood…_

In the corner of his eye, he could faintly see a notification that his HP was slowly being restored, but only in tiny amounts. He fell to his knees, his legs refusing to respond and his vision blurring, but even so, he gritted his teeth and tried pulling back an arrow. "C'mon then!" he barked, "If I'm supposed to be a better fighter than the Shield, then why don't you come on over here and get the glory of killing me!?"

The beetle righted itself, glaring angrily at him as ichor streamed from one of its eyes. It surged forward, as if heeding his wish.

Suddenly, there came a howling cry, making him jolt in surprise and more than a little terror. Had a rival monster decided to join the party?

Something huge and dark flew over his head and SLAMMED down on the beetle, knocking it to the floor. As Nick watched, keeping an eye on his slowly recovering HP, the strength started returning to his legs. He staggered upright, pulling his arrow more tightly as he gazed at the newcomer.

The first thing he realized was that it was humanoid, snarling as it swung a hefty axe at the monster and slamming it from side to side, a large shield buckled to the left arm. The second, listening to its voice, was that she was a female. She wore dark gray and brown furs under a thick set of hide armor, more sturdy than his own leathers as the pincers scrabbled uselessly at her, and her skin was dark and dusky. Her dark hair fell down to mid-back, slightly tangled and matted, and a pair of triangular ears protruded from the top of her head, and a two foot fluffy tail sprouted from the base of her spine, through a hole in her long, furry skirt. Most importantly, she was _massive,_ towering over him, and even had he been standing, she would've still had a foot over him!

_A demi-human?_ he thought, activating the Mantle. As the image of her potential came into view, his eyes widened. Where the wolf-girl had stood, there was now a massive tree, easily the size of a redwood, if not even larger, with bark like steel. _…'Cross paths with those with great potential' indeed!_ However, as he watched her fight, finally staggering upright, he realized that while her battle-axe was biting deep into the beetle's carapace with clean-sounding crunches, the monster was still going strong. _I need to help in some way. This was my fight to start with, after all!_

Quickly, he opened his menu, tabbing over to skills. Under Bowmanship, he caught sight of a skill available for purchase and bought it without a second thought.

Pulling back the arrow once more, he began focusing. The gem in the center of his bow began to glow, the rim around it spinning as light began to build, focusing on the arrow. His SP began to drain steadily, dropping from 33 to 23.

As this happened, the wolf girl grabbed the pincers drove them into the ground, the momentum driving its thorax into the air. As it flailed helplessly, its wings popped open on their own, exposing the soft underbelly. Taking aim at the newly vulnerable spot, Nick fired. **"Charge Shot!"**

The arrow blasted from his bow with a flash and a streak of yellow light, piercing straight through the beetle's body. It thrashed and writhed some more, trying to escape the woman's grasp, but she stamped hard on its head, driving it even deeper into the ground. "Still not dead," he muttered, drawing two more arrows and nocking them at the same time. He focused once more and drained even more SP, dropping down to only 3, along with drawing on another technique of his Bowmanship skill. **"Charge Shot! Twin Arrow!"**

Two more bolts of light lanced out, the sharp arrowheads tearing through even more of its flesh and burying themselves in the ground underneath. This time, the huge beetle stopped moving, twitching and shuddering as its thorny legs curled up, and was still.

You have gained 2 levels!

Nick sighed, checking his stats to see that they'd once again shot up, especially his speed. In addition, his list of bows now bore a star next to the Evanescent Bow, meaning that its bonus had now been added permanently to his stats.

"Are you okay?!"

He blinked, looking up as the woman came rushing over. As expected, she was at least a foot taller than him, forcing him to look up to see her face. Her brow was furrowed, brown eyes wide with concern.

"Yeah…I got a bit in over my head, so that beetle had me on the ropes," Nick coughed, "Thank you. I'll be fine in a few minutes."

She beamed down at him, a wide and sunny expression that seemed completely at odds with the ferocious snarl she'd worn earlier. "I thought I was never gonna run into another person! I've been traveling for days!"

His eyebrows lifted. "There's…a city just a few hours back that way," he said slowly, pointing, "But you took a walk through the forest? There's gotta be tons of monsters between here and wherever you came from! Ah, er, what's your name, by the way?"

"I'm Marcia!" she said cheerily, "And yeah, I had to sneak by a lot of monsters, but I'm tough, so I got to kill a bunch of weak ones!"

Something about the way she spoke nagged at him. "...how old are you?" asked Nick, frowning.

"Level 5!" chirped Marcia, puffing up proudly, "I just got it by killing that big bug!"

He stared, dumbstruck, recalling what the Journal had talked about demihumans maturing according to their levels. If Raphtalia had been around 6 or 7 at Level 1, then Marcia would have to be… _no, wait, I have no way to tell how fast they grow. I need more points of data._ "Well," he said lightly, "I suppose that makes us the same. I just became a level 5 myself."

The dark-skinned young lady gasped. "No way! You're the same level as me, but you look so old!"

Nick's eyebrow twitched.

"Ah, but I guess humans age differently after all…turning Level 5 when you're so old, though? Are you okay, mister?"

A vein pulsed in his temple. "And what about you, venturing out in the wilderness at a low level?" he asked gruffly, "Don't tell me you came out here on your own?

The wolf girl pouted, looking away. "Nn…growing up, my mama always told me stories about the Shield Hero! How he always gave aid to the demi-humans during and after the waves, even though he was human. And since I'm so big an' strong!" she drew herself up, hands on her hips proudly, "I decided, I wanted to be like him! I wanted to go out and help the humans who're too weak to fight! So I saved up money, bought some armor and this shield, and took my papa's axe to go fighting!"

Nick's expression softened. "I see…your heart is definitely in the right place, Marcia."

"Thanks! The old ladies in the villages I passed through said the same thing!"

"Do you have any idea where to go, though?"

She nodded, holding a finger and opening her mouth excitedly…only to freeze. "U-uh…um…" her brow furrowed as she looked around, "W-w-well, uh…"

Nick watched her patiently as she fidgeted like a guilty puppy.

Finally, she drooped. "No…"

He snorted, reaching up to pat her on the arm. "Why don't you party up with me? If you're as tough as you say, I'll need someone who can protect me. We'll be able to grow stronger together."

Her eyes lit up earnestly. "Really?! It's okay for a girl like me to protect you?!"

"Of course. My defense is no good, but if someone like you is watching my back, then-"

Her arms scooped him up, crushing him hard against a solid torso and squeezing, making his eyes bulge as he realized that, young or not, this girl was _strong!_ "Yes! I'll go with you, mister! I'll make sure that you don't get hurt at all! I, um…I swear it on my shield! Yes! I'll become your shield!"

Nick groaned, breathing shallowly. "Thanks…a bunch…! Can you let go for a bit, though?"

"Ah." She dropped him, looking contrite. "Sorry. My big brother hates when I hug too strong…"

"Don't worry about it…ah, yes, introductions. My name is Nick Ward, Hero of the Bow."

She cocked her head, frowning. "Of the Bow…? Wow…back home, they only ever talk about the Hero of the Shield! So there are other heroes too?"

The man blinked at her. It was hard to tell whether her ignorance was adorable, or frustrating. "Yes…in fact, there are four in total."

"Wow! Four heroes?!" she gasped, eyes shining in awe.

Nick sighed. "Oh dear…I think you have just as much to learn as I do. Well, it is what it is." He pulled out his hunting knife, walking towards the corpse of the Herculean Stag Beetle. "I'm going to strip this monster for parts, then we can go back to town."

"Okay, mister- ah, you're a hero. Sir Nick!"

"You can just call me Nick," he assured her, giving her a wry smile under his scarf.

She gave a grin. "Calling you Sir makes me feel like a soldier! Heheheh~"

He snorted. "As you wish, then."

Marcia Niado has joined your party.

Twin-pronged Pincer Arrow unlocked.

Beetle-wing Fletched Arrow unlocked.

**TBH**

**AN: And there we have it! The consequences of Nick's actions are small for now, but already, they are being felt.**

**The gem-socketing system is something that will pop up quite frequently in this story as a powerup method. There are many more facets to it (pun not intended) that Nick has yet to explore.**

**Nick's current status:**

**Level: 5  
Equipment:  
Armor of Restoration (+56 HP, +20 HP restored per minute, +24 DEF)  
Speedy, Sneaky Boots (+ 10 SPD, Stealth 1)  
Clear-headed Scarf  
Magic Bracers of Vines (+82 MP, Plant Creation, Mental Resistance up (small))  
*Evanescent Recurve Bow (+150% SPD, Clear Sight 1, Pierce 1, Fog Cloud)**

**HP: 531 (+56)  
MP: 4554 (+82)  
SP: 50  
ATK: 600  
DEF: 5 (+24)  
HIT: 864  
SPD: 1003  
INT: 244  
RES: 32  
Points: 16**

**I already knew what Marcia would look like from the get-go, but it took me quite a bit to figure out what her personality would be like. In essence, she's like what Raphtalia might be like if she never lost her childish innocence and had the natural strength to back it up.**

**Marcia Niado  
Level: 5  
Race: Demi-human (Dire Wolf)  
Class: None  
Subclass: None  
Equipment:  
Hide Armor (+50 DEF)  
Old Woodsman's Axe (+25 ATK)  
Iron Round Shield (+ 150 DEF)**

**HP: 363  
MP: 55  
ATK: 240 (+25)  
DEF: 504 (+200)  
HIT: 192  
SPD: 39  
INT: 50  
RES: 327**

**This is what the stat growth looks like on a normal human/demi-human, without the bullshit of a Legendary Weapon. Even so, as you can see, Marcia is much less squishier than Nick. Her stats are based on the Armor Knight class from Disgaea 5.**

**Anyway, that's a lot of numbers for you to digest, so I'm just gonna leave it here for now. I don't know when I'll work on the next chapter, but hopefully it won't be TOO long…yeah. Right.**

**As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave a review or send me a PM, **_**as long as it's not asking me when the next chapter is.**_

**North South Out.**


	4. The Journey of a Thousand Leagues

**Oy AN: Alright, this chapter most likely won't get priority for a while, but I wanted to start it off.**

**Review Replies**

**Guest 1: Not quite. The EXP is only split if the people who fight the monster are not in a party, otherwise it's shared. Naofumi learned that the hard way from Bitch.  
Convenient? Of course. 1. It's a story. 2. The Mantle of Chiron makes him fated to find people of great potential.  
No, the Sockets come from a CYOA that I used at the beginning. I'm reasonably certain it was not present in canon.  
HIT increases accuracy, dexterous movements, critical damage and eyesight. SPD is running speed, agility, acrobatics and the chance that an enemy attack will miss.**

**UO: So we had a couple of flamers on the last chapter. I believe they said that we had a good thing going until he saw that Nick had a party and that Marcia should not be a character.**

**Guest 2:  
UO: You really, REALLY underestimate the scaling of the Legendary Weapons. Yes, their growth gives them vast potential, but the fact of the matter is, they're still gonna start off extremely weak.**

**Second, could Nick have taken the boss down? If this was a normal RPG, perhaps. You might be right then. But we're rolling with the Xenoblade Chronicles logic. That means if your characters are more than two or three levels lower than the opponent, then you're gonna have a Bad Time. Rewards are higher yes, however you take a hit to accuracy and dodging. Since Nick's only defense would BE dodging, that's gonna equal one dead bowman.**

**Marcia being out of place...okay seriously you didn't read the series enough. There is a literal nation of demihumans that worship the Shield.**

**Your utter contempt for a story that doesn't follow your own logic is utter bull.**

**Anything to add my friend?**

**NS: Yeah, I'd like to add on to the point about demihumans. You say that it's unrealistic for demihumans to live free in Melromarc? I'm afraid that you're quite incorrect, because before the first Wave came along, Raphtalia's village was still around. Imagine that, an entire village and region inside Melromarc's borders, full of non-enslaved demihumans. Therefore, no, a free demihuman wandering the country is not as implausible as you might think. Would Marcia be harrassed by humans? Sure. Maybe. But that number is lower than usual due to the fact that she's big enough to snap them in half.**

**As for your 'suggestion,' oh yeah, real insightful there. Lemme just **_**uproot the chapter that I spent weeks writing after lots of planning,**_** toss it out entirely, and come up with a brand new one on the goddamn spot.**

**I think I'll just keep going with what I've got, thanks. Judging by your review, I've already managed to attract your scorn, so at least nothing will change on that front.**

**Zennishi:**

**UO: So you think a sniper who's low rank can take on a giant beetle all by himself? Yes he will work on getting more people. But the first member is normally accidental. Also, really, Marcia is a Deus Ex Machina? Well so is every upgrade the heroes get. **

**Also for those asking about the speed that isn't a flame. Nick isn't that fast yet and the beetle had a full head of steam.**

**NS: In addition, the fact of the matter is that Nick was just flat out unlucky. If he'd managed to jump up into the trees successfully, he could have avoided the charge.**

**UO: To use DnD Logic, he had an Acrobatics check at Disadvantage and rolled a Nat 1.**

**NS: As for his looks,  
1\. You're reading a tad much into how ugly he looks. It's more of an 'older Snape' look than 'crazed hobo.'  
2\. Bold of you to assume that Risk made him look that way to be a direct detriment against him, as opposed to, say, just fucking with him for shiggles.  
You might say then that I had no reason to do this whatsoever. You might even be right. However, all of that is meaningless, because that's what I wanted to do.**

**UO: We good on the rants? *summons heroes from his series* or are we gonna get uglier?**

**NS: Put 'em away, we don't need to turn this into a skit.**

**UO: Awwww… *hears explosions* goddamn it. *runs back to his own fic***

"Speech"  
Text/system  
_Thoughts  
__Mental Communication__**  
**_**Accursed/Divine  
****Skill/Technique/Spell**

Chapter 4: The Journey of a Thousand Leagues

"120 Silver pieces for 6 basic health potions? Like hell!" Nick growled, giving the wiry middle-aged shopkeep his best glare, "Are you trying to bleed me dry so that I'll need them? No, 60 silver. You've got dozens of 'em on display, don't think you can pull the wool over my eyes with 'scarcity of materials!'"

"Well, you see…" The shopkeeper began, his legs shaking from the glare Nick was giving off. "People need all of these potions to survive out in the wilds…"

"Then why are they on your shelves instead? Or did you hike up the prices for them too, until nobody wanted to buy them?" The Bow Hero leaned in, pinning the man in place with his stare. "I'd rethink that policy, my good man."

Before the man could reply, the door to the back slammed open. "What the hell's going on now? Oi, Stan, are you giving the customers shit again?"

The now-named Stan started to sweat. "Um...n-no, Dad."

An older man, with a sharp look in his eye that rather reminded Nick of himself, approached the counter. "Good. 'Cause those're _my_ potions you're hawking, and I say they're 10 Silver each."

Nick smiled. "Gladly."

Fortunately, silver coins did not only come in denominations of 1. There were also 10 and 100 piece coins, same with the Coppers. He gave them 6 of the 10 piece ones happily and left the shop with Marcia in tow. The massive demihuman followed along, light on her feet despite her size. It was apparent she hadn't been in big cities like the capital very often, or even at all, turning her head to gaze, wide-eyed, at every person and shop that they passed. She seemed ignorant of all the stares she attracted, probably because of her size or perhaps being a free demihuman.

"Hey, Sir Nick," she piped up suddenly, "How'd you get chosen as a Hero?"

The man shrugged, glancing over his shoulder at her, though making sure to keep his scarf up. "It was a simple process. I just got summoned from another world, same as the other three."

"Just…random chance?" Marcia asked.

Nick's mouth twisted under his scarf as he thought of his 'sponsors.' "Yes. That's about it," he deadpanned.

She nodded, frowning. "Hm…so if things were different, I coulda joined the Shield Hero…"

"Don't sound so disappointed. You wouldn't have to protect him as much."

"Oh. Oh yeah…"

Nick just stared up at her for a moment, before snorting. "You're an odd one."

Marcia cocked her head, her ears twitching. "Thank you?"

Before Nick could reply further, the crowd in front of them parted to reveal a group of guards. The man at the front, a frazzled-looking fellow in need of a shave, cleared his throat. "Thank goodness, you're still here, Sir Ward."

"So it would seem," he agreed dryly, "What now? Am I to be called back to the castle twice today?"

"That won't be necessary," said the guard. If there was any amount of distaste that the man held for Nick due to his previous actions, then he was quite adept at hiding it. Giving a jerk of his head, another guard stepped forward, holding a small cushion, atop which sat a silvery sphere. "In addition to the six hundred silver coin stipend, his Majesty has issued several Skill Orbs for the Heroes to use. Since we were unable to reach you at the time, only this orb remains; Sir Amaki and Sir Motoyasu have already claimed a majority of the skills set aside for themselves and their parties."

Nick's eyebrows rose. "Skill Orbs, you say?"

Marcia perked up. "Oh, I know this one! They let you learn a skill right away, right?"

"Yes indeed miss, though it odd that the others didn't want this one."

Nick nodded and took the orb. The guard glanced at the Bow Hero with a bit of embarrassment. "Just between you and me, Sir Bow Hero, you… raised some good points about the Shield Hero, but the King won't hear anything about it."

The Hero rolled his eyes. "Of course he won't. From the sound of it, there's something personal going on for him."

"I… couldn't tell you."

He shrugged. "I don't expect you to. I suppose I'll have to ask him myself some time. Good day."

The guards waved them off as they departed, heading further into town. Marcia looked at Nick. "What's going on? Why are you and the king not on good terms?"

Nick rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "No, I dare say we aren't."

Marcia frowned, her brow furrowing cutely. "Oh…you were talking about the Shield Hero, right?"

"Yeah. He was accused of… assaulting his own party member, and now he's basically a criminal to this whole country."

"What?!" The massive demihuman jerked back in horror. "That can't be right! Back home, the Shield is-!"

"I know, you told me," said the older man, motioning for her to quiet down as her outburst attracted even more looks, "But that's not how it is here. The Shield Hero helps out demihumans, right? Well…" He grimaced, the distress on her face making his heart feel heavy. "This kingdom doesn't like Demihumans much."

"But…" Marcia shifted uncomfortably, "Th-those villages I passed through were pretty nice…"

"People are different," he replied, reaching up to pat her on the arm, "But the fact of the matter is, if you weren't so imposing, I'd bet some of them would have things to say about you."

The demihuman girl gave a keening whine in the back of her throat, biting her lip in distress. "I… but I haven't done anything!"

"Neither has the Shield Hero," agreed Nick gently. "But if someone tries to start something, they will immediately blame him or you."

Marcia bunched up, her fluffy tail drooping in sadness. Nick reached up and hugged her shoulders. "I'm not and will never be one of those scumbags. You left your home because you were inspired to be a hero. That's pretty amazing, you know?"

She shuffled her feet, saying nothing.

Nick sighed, patting her on the back before separating. "C'mon, let's find somewhere private to look at this thing."

"…Okay."

Glancing around, he motioned for her to follow as he stepped into a small alley between buildings. She filled the gap imposingly, blocking him from view as she stood over him, her expression sullen and darkened. Giving her a sympathetic look, Nick focused his attention on the silver ball he now held comfortably in his hand.

Would you like to learn the Skill: Basic Movement Techniques? Y/N

Nick raised an eyebrow. _What sort of movement technique constitutes 'basic' in this world? But I suppose I could see why those two turned up their noses at it._ However, even as he prepared to accept, he paused. "Hmm…"

"Hm?" Marcia added inquisitively.

"Mm."

She gave a small, huffing chuckle at his response as the Hero reached into his pocket. Her blue eyes widened when he withdrew a sooty, russet Forgestone. "Oh! What's that?" she asked, perking up.

He smiled under his scarf, happy to see her already bouncing back. "It's a magic gem. You see, I've got some…advantages that the other Heroes don't have. Just don't tell the Sword and Spear Hero, they'll just get jealous." He gave her a wink.

"I won't!" she responded, nodding eagerly.

Laughing, he looked back at the Skill Orb. **"Sockets."**

Three holes flared open around the ball, equidistant from each other. "Three, huh?" he muttered, digging into his pocket again, "I guess I've got these last two for today as well." Pulling out an Arcanite and Dreamer's Guard, he let the sockets pull his stones out of his hand. "I'll be using the one-time boost, as well as enhancing the skill inside with magical power, as well as inspiring creative uses for it."

_*Ktink, ktink-ktink!*_

Snapping his fingers, the Sockets slammed shut, and the Skill Orb began to glow. When it died down, its uniform metallic sheen had dulled, as if sand-blasted. He tilted it around and noticed the parts that did not catch the sun instead became transparent, showing a swirling of subtle colors.

"Whoahhhh…" uttered Marcia, her eyes transfixed at the shiny surface, "I don't get it, but you changed it!"

Nodding, Nick once more focused on the message that had popped up in his Status.

Would you like to learn Basic Movement Techniques?* Y/N  
Note: Skill has been modified.

Smiling with satisfaction, he accepted this time, and flinched as the ball flashed brightly, shining in his hand. Meanwhile, he could feel new knowledge settling into his head, some sort of new muscle memory imprinting itself into his body. When it died down, the orb had gone dark, the colors slowing down.

"Yeah…yeah, that is something. Come on, we can still get some grinding in before dark." Nick motioned for her to follow, stepping past her out of the alleyway, while also stowing the darkened Skill Orb in his bag.

Marcia perked up and bounced along beside him as they headed out of town.

The next day

As promised, they had indeed gone out for a bit more grinding, this time taking on the Balloons that Naofumi had fought. The Shield Hero seemed to have left already, though, leaving them free to hunt instead. The new arrows that he'd acquired from the large beetle the day before obliterated each and every monster with brutal weight and speed. As a result, Nick ended up unlocking a series of simple bows, the Yellow, Orange and Red Shortbows. They only gave him a tiny amount of stat bonuses, but somehow it just felt satisfying to unlock them.

After that, they headed back to the inn to sleep.

TBH

The next morning, once they'd eaten and cleaned themselves, Nick figured that they would head out properly. After questioning the bar, they were pointed in the general direction of an old dungeon and set out.

Instead of the woods to the North, they went slightly further to the Northwest, towards a large river. Beyond it were a series of grassy hills that rose several feet above them, covered in rocks, before gradually leading into several imposing mountains, which stretched beyond the cloud layer. The rivers cut through the valley, yet something felt off about them. It could have been the Dungeon Waves making the world more dangerous, but the rivers seemed like a perfect breeding ground for trouble.

As they travelled, the hills began to darken, grass and flowers growing more and more sparsely, as if life was slowly being siphoned from the area, despite the flowing river. "Man, this area's seen better days. How long have these waves been happening?" murmured the Bow Hero, bending down to examine a flower, "Hm...no bees. Must be hard to pollinate."

"So what are we gonna do?" Marcia asked.

"Well, fishing seems to be on the table," Nick motioned to the river.

"OOOH fishies!" Marcia squealed, eyes lighting up.

Chuckling, the Bow Hero approached the waters. "I got an idea: how about you try to scare them up? Try to get them out of the water. I can snipe them with my Bow…probably."

Nodding eagerly, the hulking demihuman stripped off her armor and fur, revealing a simple shirt and her long skirt, removing her boots as well. She waded into the river with a splash, grinning eagerly and waiting for my next move.

"Alright then, start flinging!" Nick said pulling back his bow, gripping several arrows.

The wolf girl quickly scanned the water and leaped in. Seconds later, several bass and trout came flying out of the river, flailing with shock. The man didn't hesitate, firing as each one reached its arc, knocking them away to the other bank with arrows piercing their scaly hides.

"Well done!" he laughed, hopping from rock to rock across the river. His new skill let him keep his balance easily, despite their slickness. Reaching the other side, he knelt down and counted the fish he'd shot, finding ten. "We'll need to preserve some of these, unless you're hungry enough to eat several in one go."

"Can I?!" asked Marcia brightly, splashing towards him with her tail wagging.

"Your armor is still on the other side!"

"Ah. Oops."

TBH

Taking a moment to make the wolf girl put her armor back on, the two of them then got a fire going to roast the fish. Nick pulled a packet of salt from his inventory, glad that he'd thought to bring it; even if his cooking was rather rusty, a little salt would improve the taste, not to mention help preserve anything Marcia didn't eat for later.

While Marcia worked on the fire, he skinned, gutted and deboned fish, putting them aside in a pile. As he cleaned the fish, some of the scales fell off and landed on his exposed hands. "Hm…" he grimaced at the oily touch that now stained his hands, preparing to cast a spell to clean them off, but paused. Unslinging his bow, he propped it in his lap, gem facing upwards, before grabbing the other fish-skins. Bundling them together, he _squeezed_ them, wringing them out like a cloth, until a stream of oil began dripping from his clenched fist, right onto the bow's gem. However, instead of splashing, the droplets suddenly stopped in midair, as the yellow stone began to glow, a magic circle floating above it. The oil swirled around the circle gently, and then evaporated into nothing.

Coatings Unlocked.

Fish-Oil Coating Unlocked  
Ability: Oiled Attacks (Small)

"Well I'll be damned," he muttered, smiling, "There's still more to unlock, is there? How many things am I gonna have to give you, huh? Here, take these skins while you're at it!" Nick dropped the fish-scales on the bow. Instantly the bow absorbed them, unlocking a new form.

New Form Unlocked  
Composite River Trout Scale Bow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: SPD +11, Swim Speed Up (Small)  
Bonus: SP +11  
Sockets: 2

"Yeah, that's what I thought…Quite the opportunistic weapon, aren't you? Well, better that than being overly picky about what to take forms from."

Marcia looked up from the fire. "Who're you talkin' to, Sir Nick?"

He blinked. "...Nobody." When she cocked his head at him, blinking owlishly back, he glanced away, grabbing the bones he'd extracted from the fist, and dropped them in next, watching them float over his Bow before crumbling away.

Fish-Bone Arrow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: Splinter 1, Dark Up (Small)  
Sockets: 1

"Hm, that's a bit better. Anything else striking my fancy...oh! What about the salt?"

"Um…Sir Nick, I wanna eat first…"

He paused, then cleared his throat. "Right. That too."

She giggled. "Old people sure are silly…"

"Oi. Keep stuff like that on the inside, would you?"

"Hm?"

"Age comments."

"Sorry," Marcia replied, though her face said otherwise. Rolling his eyes, they went about their meal.

At the end of the meal, Nick remembered his idea. Grabbing a small handful of salt, he poured that onto his Bow as well.

Salt Coating Unlocked  
Ability: Painful Attack (Small)

He grinned. "Opportunistic weapon…I think I'm gonna like it."

Once satisfied, they continued on their trek. Close to sundown, he finally called a halt, eyeing his companion. "Marcia, let's see if we can find a town."

"Why? I can keep going!" Marcia said raising her fists.

"Sure, but I'd rather not tire myself out before we even get anywhere," Nick chuckled. "Let's find an inn and start fresh tomorrow. You wouldn't happen to know if there's a village nearby, would you?"

The wolf-girl cocked her head, ears swivelling as she frowned thoughtfully. "Uh…yeah! Just a lil' bit that way!" she waved vaguely in the direction of the valley side. "Once we pass around this mountain it should be there!"

Nick squinted into the distance, trying to see where the mountain would curve away. "You sure we can get there by nightfall?"

"You're too slow, old man~" Marcia giggled, sprinting away without warning.

"Oh!" groaned the Bow Hero, smacking his forehead, "Get back here! Oi! We shouldn't get sepa- COME BACK!"

TBH

It took a little bit to catch up to the rambunctious demihuman, and a few minutes more to make her calm down. After that, it was a calm walk around the mountain. The sun was halfway down the horizon when they reached the small village Marcia talked about. Surveying it from a hill, he saw that it seemed to be less of a town and more of a large farming hamlet. There were fields for grazing, terraces, and a few bridges where the river split off smaller streams, which ran through the place.

"Come on, the inn's this way!" Marcia cheered, pulling Nick along, almost dislocating his shoulder with her strength. As they went, the man felt his notebook mentally ping him, while his map marked down the location of the village.

The rate for the inn was much the same as in the capital, though now he had to worry about paying for both of them.

"Two rooms please," Nick asked the kindly older gentleman.

"Why two? Wouldn't it be cheaper for one?"

He shook his head. "We gotta pay per person, not per room, and after what happened in the capital, I'd rather not risk inviting rumors."

Marcia pouted, but nodded in understanding. A few minutes of negotiating and moving around, they were set up in their rooms.

"Alright Marcia, you can stay here until we need to go to sleep, alright?" Nick told her, setting up his bed.

"Why?" she whined .

"It's not exactly kosher for an unmarried woman to be in the same room as a strange man. Much less someone currently your age."

She cocked her head. "Are you calling yourself strange?"

"No...just that we haven't known each other long, it's a little awkward." Then his expression darkened. "Not to mention, after what happened with Naofumi, I'd rather limit the chance of rumors spreading."

"Oh." Marcia sagged slightly. "Right…being a hero has lots of tough things to remember, doesn't it?"

Nick laughed. "Everything in life does, sweetheart. It's all about how good you are at overcoming the hard times."

"Yeah…Mama told me about how sometimes, no one would buy our stuff, so it'd be hard to eat. But she told me that as long as you keep going, you can get past it," murmured the wolf-girl thoughtfully, before beaming. "That's why I'm always smiling! So that we can get through the bad times! And, I wanna make sure that other people can stay alive and reach the good times."

"A simple motivation," said the older man, sitting down on his bed, "But those're the easiest to follow."

"Mm…"

He smiled at her from under his scarf. "Right then, we got a long day tomorrow, so I recommend you go get some sleep. Good night, Marcia."

She nodded, standing up. "Good night, Sir Nick."

Nick watched her leave the room and laid back onto his bed. _Well, if nothing else, her conviction is noble. I think she'll do just fine with me. I just hope that when reality bears down on her, those convictions won't crumble._

TBH

Nick yawned as he opened his eyes. "Hm? Morning already?" He mumbled. Opening them up further, he blinked. "Apparently. I presume this is morning, at least…"

He sat up, wincing as he realized that he was lying on hard stone. He found himself sitting inside a small cave, with the sun shining brightly through the opening, reflecting off the glassy walls and floor. Running through the walls and bristling from protrusions were crystals, everywhere he looked. "What on earth is this place?" he asked aloud. "One way to find out I suppose."

He summoned his journal and began to skim through it. His eyebrows shot up, before he squinted at the pages. All the text had become jumbled together and blurry, impossible to read. More bizarrely, his mental map had no idea where he was, in relation to where he'd been, yet at the same time, he was still in the inn he and Marcia had gone to.

Then he realized: this was a dream. But at the same time, his surroundings were far too clear to only be a dream, and his thoughts were too lucid.

Suddenly, the Journal flipped through its pages, coming to rest on one that hadn't been rendered illegible.

The Garden of Gems

Your ability to Socket magic gems comes from your soul being connected to this ethereal realm. When you sleep, your mind will wander its endless course, in order to study its mysteries and decipher them.

Over the course of 1 month, you may unlock 2 of any of the following choices:  
A new Gem type  
A new Thread type  
A new power for 1 Gem that you already possess

"A month, huh?" murmured Nick, rubbing his chin in thought, "How's that gonna work out with the Waves, I wonder? Hopefully I'll have enough time to complete one before the next Wave…" Then he frowned. "Actually, hang on, Threads? What're those?"

The Journal flipped over to a different page…making him swear when it too turned out to be illegible.

"Great, now what?" he mumbled. Looking around, something glinted red out of the corner of his eye. Striding out of the cave, he saw a rose, formed of a bright red, delicate crystal that made up everything from its petals to its thorns. As he approached, the light caught it in such a way that for a moment, he thought he saw ethereal tendrils reaching out towards him from it, and kept his distance just in case. However, he made a mental note to come back to it later.

The smooth, glassy ground rolled away, a stripe of color denoting a path for him to follow. He was glad for this, as while there was vegetation, the tall grass looked like it would slash his legs to ribbons.

A jingling and rustling drew his attention. He looked around, then leaped slightly back as a lizard, almost five feet long, crawled across the path, stopping for a moment to look back at him. Its hide was thick and scaly almost like an alligators, but also jagged, and sparkled green in the sun. It regarded him with round, blank eyes, then continued on its way, trundling off into the grass.

He shook his head, mystified, but considered studying whatever that had been as well.

A breeze blew through the place, making him realize that it was quite warm here. He gazed around, taking in the sights. With the sun (much larger in the sky than normal) beaming down on him, the entire Garden glittered and shone like…well, like gems. He could see outcroppings of rock in the distance, hear the faint burbling of a river, and even feel some sort of intangible streams blowing through his hands. Were those Threads? He wanted to stay a little while longer, but apparently the wind had different ideas. He stumbled as it suddenly picked up, actually pushing him back, then yelped as he was suddenly lifted off his feet, and flung back into the cave.

TBH

He awoke with a start, grunting in discomfort as his heart pounded and he broke out in a cold sweat. Slowly, he sat up, looking around, to see that he was back in the inn. Standing up, he grabbed his Journal off the table and opened it. Sure enough, there was an entry on the Garden of Gems, with a small note underneath.

Research  
Blood Ruby: 1%  
Drakestone: 1%

_So those two things counted as gems, huh?_ he thought, remembering the rose and lizard. Then he flipped back to the other entry that had caught his eye.

Threads

While Gems are absolutely essential for Socketing, Threads are almost as important for anyone wanting to take their enhanced items even further. Threads allow power to flow from one Gem to another, altering its abilities. Different types of Threads allow for different methods of power transference, but as a rule, each Gem can only 'transmit' and 'receive' once each.

Warning: by creating more complex Arrays of Gems, you start generating larger amounts of Resonance, as the nature of the Garden is enforced more and more on the Socketed object. Take some time between Socketing when creating Arrays, especially when multiple Gem types are involved. An overload of Resonance will destroy the object and all Gems Socketed in it.

You have access to 3 Thread types

Disperse: At any time, you can negate all Threads in an Array and cause the object to eject all Socketed Gems.

Leap: Using this Thread, the power of a Gem Socketed into one object can flow to a Gem in another object. However, due to the distance, the effects are weaker.

Fray: This Thread links one Gem to another. However, as you do so, you can place 'filters' on which aspects of a Gem's power will be passed on, strengthening those aspects while limiting others.

He nodded slowly, frowning in thought. "These threads seem like they can make things even more interesting. But I don't have time to analyze it right now; I've already spent so much time getting my gear Socketed. I'll probably have to spend today's Gems on Marcia too…"

Opening his Inventory, he was relieved to see that indeed, his gems had restocked, with three each. "Good, good..."

"What's good?" Marcia asked, scaring the wits out of him.

"Jesus! When'd you get here?" he yelped, grabbing his scarf.

She blinked. "Just now, why? Eh, why're you wrapping up your face?"

He grumbled, pulling on his armor. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't have the friendliest look. Better to hide it so that I don't put people on edge."

"I don't think it's ugly."

Nick paused. "Thank you. But at the same time, it's not a face that people would readily trust."

"_I_ trust you."

He turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide, honesty practically shining from her round face. Nick wanted to point out to her that she'd only just met him, that he could easily be deceiving her like Naofumi had been deceived. But he wasn't; saying it would only be treading on the innocent good-will that she was giving to his weary heart. So he only smiled at her, even as he wrapped the scarf around the lower half of his face. "Thank you, Marcia. You really are a sweetheart."

"Eheheeh~" giggled the large girl, beaming and wagging her tail.

"Come on, let's see if there's a dungeon around here."

The two of them exited the room and headed downstairs to the tavern area. After ordering breakfast, Nick approached the bartender and asked about the area. "So, is there an old Dungeon around here or are you guys safe?"

"Dungeons eh?" The innkeeper hummed rubbing his chin. "There's one about two hours East of here, in the swamps. Careful though, there are some nasty leeches out there. Probably more than a few spawned from the Dungeon, now that I think about it."

"Is it not that dangerous to live so close to an old Dungeon, then?" asked Nick.

The man shrugged. "Well, it's been around since I was a kid and nothing more than the usual monsters ever strays close to the village, so it seems safe enough."

"Fair enough. C'mon Marcia."

"O-kay~"

TBH

Once they'd paid, they set off from the village, heading East. The farms quickly faded from view, until even the grazing animals stopped appearing. As they did, the ground began to get muddier, indicating some sort of water nearby. Further in, they could see reeds, banyan trees and standing water, indicating that they had arrived.

"Let's stop for a moment," said Nick suddenly, searching for a dry place. Spotting a few large, mossy boulders, he hopped nimbly up onto it and sat down, cross-legged.

"Eh? But we only just left!" protested Marcia, even as she too sat on the rock.

He nodded, reaching into his pocket. "Yeah, but I'd rather not do this while in the village. Don't want people getting suspicious of my abilities."

She cocked her head. "Huh? Whatcha gonna do?"

"I'm going to enhance your armor and weapons."

"Oh…eh, wait?! Really!" The dark-skinned wolf-girl perked up. "Like you did with that orb-thing the other day?"

Nick chuckled. "That's right. If you're gonna be fighting alongside me, it's only right. I'll only do one or two gems for each piece, though; we'll want to get you better equipment before the next Wave."

Marcia frowned at that, looking down at her axe. "R…right…" she mumbled, but there was some reluctance in her voice.

"That axe got sentimental value for you?" he asked, noticing.

"Ah, um…" she fidgeted for a moment. "It's my papa's axe. I took it when I left." She bit her lip, looking guilty at the admission.

"Well...then I suppose we'll have to make sure it doesn't get broken, then," noted the Hero, pulling out his Gems. "Right so these are some basic gems. These Forgestones will go into your axe and er…your chest-plate, I suppose."

Marcia looked down at the hide breastplate covering her chest. "Okay then!" She said reaching back to untie it.

"No no no, you can leave it on. Hold out your shield."

When she obliged, the man tapped it with his finger. **"Socket."** Two sockets opened over it, one in the center, one just above it. He held up a glowing, flickering Arcanite. "So, this one will make it so that your shield can protect from magic, and even project a force field…though you might need to figure out how it works. I'm no expert on magic."

_*Ktink!*_

Marcia gave an, "Ooh!" of excitement, her eyes shining, as her round shield changed. A ring of iridescent violet runes was now inscribed around the heart of the shield, while the iron itself darkened further.

"There we go, now we should do the armor." He put a hand on her back, opening up three more Sockets, before picking up a Forgestone. "This will temper your armor and make it tougher, as well as make sure that it repairs itself."

_*Ktink!*_

Then, taking her shield, he opened up the Sockets again. "Now, I'm gonna try something I haven't done yet." He pinched the air above the Arcanite and pulled. As he did so, an ethereal, yellow-orange wisp of energy rose from the stone, trailing from his fingers. He dragged it all the way to the Forgestone imbedded in Marcia's armor, until finally it connected. The two gems pulsed brightly, making the objects they were embedded in glow as the sockets faded away again. "Alright, now your shield is giving your armor some of that magic defense. Hopefully. I think. Yes."

"Mm."

"Mm indeed. Now hold out that axe." The girl did so hesitantly and Nick opened up its Sockets. "Hm. Three seems to be an average for most objects," he commented, slotting in another Forgestone. The Axe gleamed as the head sharpened itself, the handle growing more polished. "And that'll do for now. Let's go."

"Right!"

Hopping off the boulder, they ventured deeper into the swamp. Nick grimaced as the mud grew looser, clinging to his feet. "Be sure to steer clear of any deep water, that's where leeches hang out."

As they trudged through the swamp, the canopy began to grow thicker and thicker, blocking out most of the sunlight. What little sunlight that filtered through was making the whole swamp seem spookier, the muggy air catching the rays with gas and bugs.

Marcia stuck closely behind Nick, covering her nose with a groan. "It stiiiinks!" she complained.

"Yeah, swamps tend to do that," he agreed dryly.

She took two steps forward, before promptly catching a buried tree root and pitching forward face first. Due to being right behind him, Nick found himself suddenly eating several inches of mud as several pounds of armored wolf-girl suddenly slammed into him.

*Splash*

The two companions smacked down into the wet mud. Nick groaned, both in disgust and exasperation. _Damnit, I liked these clothes…_

Marcia whined as she sat up, the mud sticking to her body. "Uuuuugh…"

Similarly, Nick left an imprint in the ground as he pulled himself out of the ground, making a loud sucking sound. "You said it. Hold on, I've got a spell for this, I think…"

It took a few moments to recall the incantation required to cast the spell, and it then took more than one cast to expunge all the mud from their clothes, due to the sheer amount of muck they'd accumulated from the faceplant.

"Man, that's a lot of mud," Marcia said with a disgusted look.

Nick hummed as they emerged from the puddle. "Check for leeches."

The screech that came next could have woken the dead. Up and down, the poor girls legs were a dozen of the blood suckers. "Get 'em off get 'em off get 'em ooooooff!" she wailed, stamping her legs and running around in a panic.

"Marcia, relax! I can take care of this!" ordered the Hero, grimacing at the number of black, bulbous shapes hanging off her exposed thighs. Pulling out the bag of salt, he began scattering it over her legs. Instantly the leeches popped off, splashing back down into the marsh.

Marcia stood hunched, shivering and whimpering, wiping furiously at her now leech-free legs, pale-faced and sweating. "No, no no…"

Nick sighed, reaching up to pat her head. With her size, it was easy to forget that she was just a young girl. "It's okay, Marcia," he assured her softly, rubbing behind the fuzzy ears on her head. He got an appreciative whine out of her, and she nuzzled her round cheek into his hand.

"'m sorry…" she mumbled, covering her face with her hands, "I wanted to be an adventure, but I'm already s-scared…"

"Falling in a puddle and getting your blood sucked will do that," he pointed out gently, "You've got nothing to be ashamed of."

Marcia nodded slowly, not looking him in the eye. Then she perked up as something else caught her gaze. "Look!"

Nick turned and noticed it to. Swamps were naturally lowlands, for something to slope further down meant one thing. There was something unnatural underneath.

"Marcia, I think you found the dungeon."

"R-really? Wow! I just thought it looked interesting…"

He chuckled. "Well, chances are, if something looks interesting, then it probably is." Then his smile faded. "Remember what that man said in the village. The leeches came from there. Chances are we're gonna run into even more down in that hole. Think you can handle it, Marcia?"

The wolf girl nodded, her eyes closing for a moment as she took a deep. They slowly walked down the ramp, what little light they had quickly fading away. Marcia latched onto Nick, clinging to his arm, but he gently pried her fingers away. "Keep your weapon at the ready," he told her seriously, unslinging his bow and transforming it into the Fish-scale Bow he'd just acquired. Sure, the stats it gave were extremely weak, but once he leveled up, its skills would stick with him.

At the same time, he raised his free hand. **"As the Hero of the Bow, I decipher the laws of nature, and bid the sun to banish night: First Light."**

An orb of pure light blossomed from his palm, moving to over his head with a casual toss. The narrow walls of the tunnel they'd entered were now thrown into stark relief, riddled with grassroots and dripping with foul fluids. It was a wonder that it didn't collapse immediately. As the tunnel continued, it slowly started to widen out, until suddenly, they stepped out into a large chamber. In fact, it was too big to even really be called a chamber; the ceiling was completely covered in darkness, and as far as the eye could see, everything was more marshlands. Large immaculate, rough but solid stone stretched up from the ground and out of sight, presumably keeping the above ground swamp from collapsing on them. Large patches of water sat everywhere, murky and eerily still, with narrow paths of dirt and stone winding between them. A few glowing spots stood in the distance.

"Eh…eh!? This's way too big!" gasped Marcia, her eyes widening, "I thought it'd be a big tunnel all the way through!"

"A Dungeon that spawns in a marsh would probably take after the place it was created in," replied Nick, mostly speaking to himself as he rubbed at his chin. "Or maybe it was the Dungeon that turned the place above into a swamp in the first place? Dungeon Waves are supposed to be distortions in dimensions, aren't they? Why not distort the land as well?" Nick gestured to her, taking a step forward. "Let's go. Keep an eye out for any movement, or anything shiny. These things are supposed to be loaded with all sorts of resources."

The pathways between all the puddles were muddy, the stones in them almost all covered in a thick, fuzzy moss. Nick bent down to examine the soil for a moment. "Silt," he muttered, rubbing a bit of it between his fingers, "The water probably has plenty of nutrients in it, which enriches the soil. That village might appreciate some." Standing up, he dusted off his hands and continued on, Marcia cocking her head in confusion as she stared skeptically down at the ground. Nick sighed. "Floods bring special nutrients to soil. They normally happen in the spring thanks to snowmelt and flooding spreads into the farmlands.

"Oh! That's why everyone's so happy when it warms up!" Marcia realized.

"Kind of. That's also why that village had so many farms; the rivers bring a similar amount of nutrients. The fact that that valley was so barren is unusual."

She gave a noise of understanding. "You know a lot of stuff about this. Were you a farmer, Sir Nick?"

"Eh…in a few past lives I was," he replied casually, shrugging.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind."

They continued on, their boots clunking and echoing loudly in the silent expanse. The whole dungeon stank of mold and decay, a smell that was sickening to the pair.

Marcia, whose nose was more sensitive than Nick's, let out a small, dog-like whine. "It smells like a cemetary in here."

"Try and relax Marica, and apologies about the smell." Nick assured her. He looked around and frowned. "With such an open area as this, you'd think it was a trap."

"Huh?"

"I'm just making observations. Usually in a Dungeon, you'd expect the Boss monster to have a big, open area to fight in. But you'd have to fight through an entire labyrinth to get to it in the first place. If this place is the whole Dungeon, then most likely, whichever set of Heroes cleared it out must have had to actively search for it. Given how murky the water is, it could've been adept at hiding from them."

"You…you think so…?"

Nick glanced around at her bewildered tone. "Well, we have no real way of knowing whether that's right. It's fun to think about what might have gone on here, years ago." _I wonder if there are any people in other worlds who try to guess at what I did in my past lives?_ He chuckled at his own thoughts.

Their path wasn't all dirt, however. Roots drooped down towards them from the ceiling above, dangling all the way to the ponds. And sprouting from the roots, covering them all the way up to the ceiling, were clusters of several varieties of mushrooms. The most plentiful glowed in the dark, but there were others illuminated faintly by them, not to mention Nick's Light spell. "Ah, now THESE are worth coming down here for, I think."

Marcia wrinkled her nose. "Mushrooms? Why? I don't think you can eat those…"

"No, but like the fish scales, I think I can get new equipment from them." He explained, picking up a yellow mushroom. As he did so, the gem glowed, and the fungus crumbled away in his hand.

Paralysis Coating Unlocked  
Ability: Paralyze Attack (small)  
Cost: 5 SP per shot

"Hm… A new coating. But unlike the last one, it costs a bit to use," noted the Hero, frowning in mild annoyance. Then he shrugged. "Oh well. Paralysis has its uses."

The next two mushrooms only gave him more arrows, just like his first one. Besides the colors, however, the skills given by these called for raised eyebrows

Blue Mushroom Arrow Unlocked  
Ability: Simple Recipes 1, Cleansing Spore-puff (Small)

Green Mushroom Arrow Unlocked  
Ability: Apprentice Compounding, Mortar and Pestle

To his surprise, the cap of this arrow actually popped off, and could be used as a tiny bowl, while the shaft of the arrow could be used to presumably grind herbs into poultice. "Well, that's handy."

The final mushroom, the ones that had been lighting the underground cave, raised his eyebrows even further, as it transformed into a glowing bow, covered in mushrooms.

New Form Unlocked  
Glowshroom Recurve Bow  
Rarity: Common  
Ability: SP +20, Glow-spore Shot, Luminescent  
Type Bonus: +5 ATK  
Sockets: 3  


Nick nodded to himself. "So there ARE bows that can be made from mushrooms." As he closed the update, he noticed an exclamation mark over the Skill tab. "Helllo, what do we have here?"

Over in the massive web of skills, one of the larger nodes was shining

25 Weapon Unlocks reached! Aurora Fantasia Unlocked!

Aurora Fantasia  
The output of a magical item may be increased by 100% (For Weapon Skills, 5 MP must be spent per SP required)  
The Weapon Restriction of the Legendary weapon is partially lifted, allowing the use of magical focuses (wands, staves, etc.)  
Magical items/resources can be detected

He cursed to himself, quietly enough that Marcia couldn't hear. He'd completely forgotten about that power, which he himself had chosen from one of the many CYOAs. Apart from the Mantle of Chiron, he'd neglected to take a look at his other abilities.

Quickly, he scanned around for the others, but didn't want to take too long; they _were_ in the middle of a Dungeon, after all. However, he was disquieted to notice that a number of skills remained locked, particularly the ones that pertained to directly enhancing his body. He couldn't just use the Skill Points from leveling up to unlock them either; he had to fulfill specific requirements.

Deciding to try out his new one, he closed his eyes. **"Aurora Fantasia,"** he intoned.

Something pulsed inside him, a swirl of effervescent colors greeted his mind's eye. He opened his eyes again, to find that his bow was glowing in a similar color. Looking around, everything else looked just about the same, but something glinted sharply out of the corner of his eye.

Off to the side, near the edge of one of the small ponds, something was shining in his vision. "Got something."

"What did you find?" Marcia asked curiously.

Stepping off the path, Nick trudged through the water and bent down, plucking the object from the mud. Whatever it was, it had been mostly buried in the muck, but with a little bit of digging, he pulled it free, before quickly sloshing back to the pathway.

Once he was out of the water, he took a look at the thing that had triggered his senses. It was a tiny, rounded gem, glowing a brilliant blue-white in the light of his bow and shimmering slightly. Shaking his hand to clear off the water, he was surprised to notice flakes of snow drifting to the ground. He pulled out his Journal with his free hand and opened it, hoping it might shed some light.

All he found, however, was a brief page describing the area itself.

Subterranean Swamp Dungeon (Cleared)  
Terrain: Muddy  
Weather: none  
Resources: Fertile soil, crystal deposits (Uncommon), Elemental Opals (Ice) (Rare)  
Monsters: Inter-dimensional Leeches, Inter-dimensional Galala Crocodile (Slain)

"An Elemental Opal, apparently," he said, finally answering his companion's question, "Must be a magic gem…" He looked up at her, an idea occurring to him. "Hey, gimme your axe for a moment."

Hesitantly, Marcia held out her weapon, and Nick held up the Opal, tapping the axe. **"Socket."**

As the three Sockets opened once more, he dropped the new gem into one set into the head of the axe. _*Ktink!*_ It went in without any problem. "Aha! I knew it'd work!" Grinning, he clapped his hands, causing the Sockets to slam shut, and the axe began to glow. The head gained a series of intricate carvings around the cheek and shoulder, and the edge glowed with cold vapor, from heel to toe.

As the two of them gazed at the axe appreciatively, Nick heard something slimy behind them. "Marcia! We got a fight on our hands." He saw two giant, rippling slug-like creatures crawling slowly toward them, with Level 6 hovering over them, both inching closer. "We can take them if we coordinate well!"

Marcia nodded but as she tightened her grip, her eyes widened. Behind the two leeches, a glistening black _tide_ was emerging from the water. She started to shake and back up. "S-s-sir N-N-Nick…?"

"I see them," acknowledged Nick curtly. "Don't worry, there's still one thing we can do here."

"W-what?"

"BOOK IT!"

The two of them turned and ran back along the path they'd taken, Nick trusting his mental map to show them the way back to the entrance. All around them, however, the water darkened further, and yet MORE leeches came pouring out onto the rocky ledges. He cursed, skidding to a stop and wheeling around, pulling out a couple of arrows. **"Salt Coating,"** he recited, a bottle of some sort materializing onto the side of his bow as he pulled back his Fish-bone Arrow.

Taking a moment to identify the two massive black shapes in the distance, he fired once, twice.

Judging by the two faint screeches that echoed through the cavern, he'd hit the mark. The swarm slowed for a moment, and he took that as his cue to keep running. In no time at all, they could see the entrance coming up, illuminated by Nick's bow.

"Go Marcia, we're almost there!" Nick shouted. Just as he said this, four leeches leaped up onto his legs. "SHIT! MARCIA, GET OUT OF HERE!" His legs suddenly weakened, vision momentarily blurring, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw his HP starting to go down.

TBH

Marcia was still running, her heart pounding. The memory of all those tiny, rubbery, slimy bodies clinging to her, draining her HP just like that, kept her from looking back.

_Papa was right…there're so many dangerous things out in the wild!_ she thought, tears welling up, _Why did I think I could be an adventurer! I'm so stupid, like always! _She was about to climb the stairs and then stopped. _Sir Nick…he probably knows that too. But he didn't try to push me away...he helped me. He gave me those gems and never laughed at me…and this is how I repay him? I'm a coward…"_

"MARCIA! GET OUT OF HERE!"

She flinched at the sudden shout, and turned to look back at him, only to stop dead. Nick was flinging leeches off, slashing at the ones that clung to his body with his arrows, struggling to follow her.

"_I'm no good at my defense, but if someone like you is watching my back, then…"_

"_Thank you, Marcia. You really are a sweetheart."_

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she was already moving, bringing up her axe in both hands. Her lips drew back to expose her teeth, and a brutal scream tore from her mouth as she brought it down. The head of the axe _exploded_ with a blinding white light, and a wave of ice and snow blasted forward, washing over the path and ponds, and blowing past Nick, whipping up his scarf. All around him, leeches froze over and went still, the ones clinging to him crumbling away at his next swipes.

TBH

Immediately, he spun on his heel, pulling back the bowstring without nocking an arrow. **"Glow Shot!"** he yelled, taking aim once more at where he remembered the large leeches to be, and let loose. A pale blue ball of light blasted from the gem in his bow, rocketing away to strike a spot somewhere in the distance and burst. A cloud of glowing dust exploded from the point of impact, covering a small part of the squirming tide…but also illuminating the two larger, rounded leeches, highlighting them in the dark.

"There you are." Nick quickly pulled out two Mushroom Arrows and strung them up, incanting, **"Salt Coating. Charge Shot. Aurora Fantasia!"** The squishy arrows began to glow brightly, the salt mixture poured on them gleaming like gems as he sank his SP and MP into them, before releasing.

The arrows streaked away and stroke home with a distant _*BAMF!*_ releasing yet another cloud of glitter. There came a distant screech of pain as the two large shapes writhed about madly, made only worse when the second arrow found its mark.

Combo Skill discovered: Coating Burst

Deciding to neither question the message nor press his luck by staying around, Nick sprinted for the exit again, dragging Marcia by the arm. With one big jump, they sprang up through the tunnel, crashing and rolling along the swampy floor.

"Pfftt," Nick spat out another mouthful of mud and wiped his face. "Okay...all in favor of not doing that again, say aye."

"Ayeeee," Marcia moaned, picking herself out of the muck and panting.

Nick heard some sniffling and looked up to see her curled up and hiding her face. "Marcia?"

"I'm SORRY!" The wolf girl wailed. "I'm a coward! I'm weak, I don't deserved to be an adventurer! Just tell me to go!"

He sighed. "The hell's this coming from? No, I won't do that."

"But I…I couldn't think at all! When I saw those things, I could only think about running! I left you behind!"

"Then why am I alive right now?"

She looked up, blinking wetly. "H-huh?"

"You used the enchantment on your axe and saved me, didn't you?" asked Nick, glancing at the weapon lying next to her

"That…I guess I did. But, I had no idea what I was doing!" she protested, running her fingers through her hair agitatedly, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I just…didn't want you to…"

Nick watched for struggle with herself for a moment, before sitting down next to her, putting a hand on her back. "Most heroes don't know what they're doing when they save lives. I've seen mothers shield their kids from gunmen, soldiers jumping on grenades and ordinary citizens running into fires. You wanted to save me, right? That feeling is the cornerstone of being a Hero, and it's not something that a young lady like you would have naturally most of the time. The fact that you did so, and chose to leave home at your age, speaks volumes about your potential."

Marcia wiped her eyes, which got some mud on them.

"So, what do you think?" he asked, "Do you still want to leave? I still need someone who can pull me out of a dangerous situation, if what I saw back there was any indication."

"I…I wanna stay…" she mumbled, "If I do…I can learn to not be afraid, can't I?"

He smiled. "You can learn to act despite being afraid."

"Mm…"

"Now c'mon, we need to go get cleaned up."

"Right…"

**TBH**

**AN**

**UO: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? Sorry on a movie quote binge!**

**NS: Took a little bit to figure out what I wanted to do with this chapter, but the next one I have a much clearer idea for. This chapter was to establish Marcia's personality and develop her a bit more. Since she's an OC, we can't just rely on people knowing canon. Hopefully, I've brought across that she's a simple girl with big ambitions, but ultimately naive.**

**In addition, Nick learns a bit more about the Bow and his Socketing ability, as well as unlocking one of his other powers, Aurora Fantasia.**

**Now for updated stats.**

**Oh, also, I went back to previous chapters and added the SP stat, since the Legendary Heroes have that in addition to MP.**

**Nick  
Level: 6  
HP: 664 (+56)  
MP: 5693 (+82)  
SP: 86  
ATK: 756  
DEF: 10 (+24)  
HIT: 1253  
SPD: 1369  
INT: 258  
RES: 61  
Points: 21**

**Marcia  
Equipment  
Magically Tempered Hide Armor (+150 DEF, +25 RES)  
Magic Round Shield (+150 DEF, +75 RES, Mana Barrier)  
Tempered Hoarfrost Axe (+75 ATK, Ice Attack (Large))**

**Level: 6  
HP: 889  
MP: 93  
ATK: 540 (+75)  
DEF: 1285 (+300)  
HIT: 432  
SPD: 66  
INT: 90  
RES: 801 (+100)**

**As always, if you have any questions or comments, leave a review or send me a PM.**

**My next chapter probably won't be for a good while, due to helping a friend with his work. But when it does, it will most likely be Missing Link.**

**North South Out.**


	5. Just as Important as the First

AN: Well, no real announcements this time, other than the fact that quarantine sucks.

UO: And so does Myne.

?: Indeed. Welp, time for the action!

"Speech"  
Text  
_Thoughts_  
_Mental Communication_  
**Accursed/Divine**  
**Skill/Spell/Technique**

Chapter 5: Just as Important as the First

A few leeches crawled about sluggishly on the stone paths of the underground dungeon. Their black, bulbous bodies reflected the glow-shrooms' light faintly as they went about their own business.

_*Thwipthwipthwip!*_

A series of arrows shot out of the dark, nailing several to the ground in one hit. Their bodies sizzled as if exposed to salt, melting away as they squirmed and screeched, before falling still. Treading carefully along the narrow walkways of the dungeon, Nick and Marcia marched through, the former steadily nocking and releasing arrow after sleek, blue-green arrow.

After they had cleaned up and restocked their supplies, they formulated a plan to tackle the dungeon correctly. During the prep work, Nick had, in a moment of inspiration, looked to see if his arrows could be individually socketed. It would be pointless if each arrow was only affected once, given how disposable they were, but if that happened to unlock something…after all, he'd already absorbed each Stone into the bow to unlock new forms, surely it wouldn't give him anything new if he tried the same thing again?

Each arrow only had one socket inside it, the fewest he'd seen yet. Upon slotting in the first one, an Evanescent, it glowed brightly, the shaft transforming into a smoother, pale blue substance.

Evanescent Arrow Unlocked!  
+100 SPD  
Shot Speed Up (Variable)  
Erst Barrage

Satisfied, he felt the urge to test them out, preferably in the Dungeon.

Now, standing back and casting a spell to light his way, he pulled out another arrow and fired, over and over, his keen eyes letting him pick out individual leeches in the distance.

Marcia meanwhile swung her axe, striking the ground and blasting out a large wave of ice that froze over the ponds, killing any leeches that tried emerging to attack them directly. Her massive body shook slightly, her breathing becoming heavier as she spent more of her rather meager MP.

_Wish I'd thought to buy some MP-restoring potions, along with the Healing potions,_ thought the Bow Hero, watching her out of the corner of his eye even as he fired arrow after arrow, marveling at how quickly and smoothly the motions had become. _Even without considering that Marcia has access to magic now, I've got my own to worry about._ A glance at his HP, MP, and SP had him amending that thought, however, given that his maximum MP was currently over 5000.

As the last of the smaller leeches crumbled into frosty goop, a loud screech echoed through the halls. Nick grinned. "Sounds like the parents are coming." Aiming in the direction that the sound had come from, he pulled back the string without nocking an arrow and twanged it. **"Glow Shot!"** The jewel in his weapon flashed a bright blue, before a similarly-colored bolt of light blasted from it, streaking out into the distance until it struck something, bursting in a cloud of glowing spores. As they began to settle, several much larger leeches were revealed, outlined in the blue clouds.

"Sir Nick, I think those are the guardians of this dungeon."

"Well, what passes for 'em at least, since the Boss is long dead," he corrected her. He pulled out his new sleek arrows and nocked one, taking aim. "Quite a lot of 'em this time, so let's try out the new trick. **Erst Barrage!"**

This time, as he loosed the arrow, the jewel of his bow flashed, a small glowing portal opening ahead of it. An instant later, countless more copies of that arrow blasted forth, whipping up the wind as they streaked across the underground swamp towards the group of giant leeches. The massive, bloated black invertebrates barely even had time to react before the stream of arrows struck home. The leeches screeched in pain as they quickly became riddled dozens upon dozens of blue shafts, which sank deep into their soft, squishy flesh until finally, they looked like slimy porcupines. As they writhed and screeched, Nick nocked another arrow, ready to unleash another barrage, although his SP was low enough that he could only reliably get off another two. Fortunately, however, being riddled full of projectiles just once seemed to do the trick, as the group quickly slumped over and stopped moving.

Breathing a sigh of relief but keeping his arrow notched, Nick nodded to Marcia and headed the bodies, keeping an eye out for any more of the smaller ones. Fortunately, none came forward to try feeding on them. Upon realizing this, he slung his bow over his shoulder. "Now my favorite part, dissection!"

"Do you have to?" Marcia shivered.

"Well, maybe not," he admitted, shrugging, "But if this gives me something that could, I dunno, recover my meager HP without relying too much on healing potions, I think it's worth seeing what I can unlock from these."

So saying, he quickly sliced into the rubbery mounds of flesh, quickly extracting their teeth, and both brains from each body. His companion gagged at the grisly sight, but the man merely continued his grisly work. When he got to the brains, his bow glowed before transforming into a pair of long, black oblong shapes that stuck out straight on either side of the handle

New Bow Unlocked: Large Leech Flatbow  
Rarity: Uncommon  
+45 ATK  
Leech Shot (1)  
Armor Penetration (Small)  
Type bonus: +150% INT

Leech Arrow Unlocked  
Rarity: Common  
+15 ATK  
Armor Penetration (Small)

"Well, looks like I was right on the money. Another Flatbow, though…can't say I've ever used something like this before; looks like there's no string. Maybe it's formed from mana or something?" he murmured, pawing at the air around the bow. As he did so, he felt his mana pool just under the skin of his palm and fingers, before they caught what felt like a string, a shimmering, ethereal strand materializing. "So you need some magical ability to use this type of bow. Tricky, but doable," he noted. "This could work later."

"Can we please get this dungeon over with?" Marcia growled.

"Oh relax, I think that was the last of it. Come on." He motioned the pouting wolf girl to follow him. With the last of the big beasties defeated, it was a relative cakewalk through the rest of the dungeon to loot the place. Sadly, most of the great treasures that this Dungeon had once possessed had long since been looted by the heroes that had cleared it, judging by the many empty treasure chests they dredged up.

Eventually, however, they reached the edge, where the huge, sloping walls met the ground and began following it, picking their way over large, petrified roots that erupted from the side. Soon enough, with judicious use of Nick's Light spell. Walking through it with their hands on their weapons, their serious looks melted into one of surprise as they entered a massive vault of gold, various precious jewels, and gilded weapons.

"JACKPOT!" Nick cheered. "We'll be eating like royals tonight, Marcia!"

Marcia's eyes lit up at the sight of the treasure, while Nick began to grab all the loot and shove it into his bag, the satchel swallowing each and every one without any difficulty. "Sir Nick…this is too much for both of us."

Nick smiled and handed her some of the gold. "You've never seen this much have you?" When the wolf girl shook her head he continued. "When you get loot like this, it's overwhelming. Trust me, I've seen a few hordes like this. It's pretty special when you clear your first dungeon. When we get back, treat yourself. Go nuts. Granted, we might want to be careful; this much money entering the economy might start devaluing the currency…"

"Eh?"

"Ah, don't worry, I've got a way around that," he said, waving off her confusion, "Now, lessee here, any weapons? I should probably hang onto them so that the other Heroes can copy them, I guess…Oh?"

Amongst the treasure pile was a medieval crossbow, sturdily constructed out of iron, with filigree along the sides. Carefully picking it up, he examined it for a moment, before holding it up to his Bow's jewel. Sure enough, it glowed softly, releasing a scanning ray of light, before morphing into a replica of the crossbow

Impetuous Crossbow  
Rarity: Rare  
Abilities: +200 ATK  
Sniping (+1)  
Firing Speed (-1)  
Type Bonus: +100 SP  
Auto-Load

Bolt style Ammo Unlocked

"Sir Nick, what is that?" Marcia asked.

"It's a crossbow. It's more accurate than a normal bow, but reloading it can be a bit of a pain. Though apparently the Legendary Bow can load a bolt automatically, somehow. Which means my issue with reloading my bow is now mitigated with this. Though switching different types in a hurry might be an issue."

"That's good, I guess?" Marcia muttered as she collected the rest of the loot, absentmindedly shoveling it into a sack. Thanks to Nick's Inventory and her being in the Party, it all vanished without a trace, making her feel rather confused, but not enough to make her stop. Satisfied that they cleaned out the dungeon, they left the way they came in. Stepping out of the swamp, Marcia jumped as there arose a loud, ominous gurgling. Turning back to watch with great trepidation as the swamp waters swirled and drained into the hole that had led down into the dungeon, completely flooding it and sealing it off.

"God damn…so it looks like once the Dungeon has been completely ransacked, it'll collapse and vanish," murmured Nick speculatively, rubbing his chin, "Or is it just that there's a limited number of times one can enter it? I wonder how that'll affect the spawning of monsters in the future…" Then, glancing around at his companion, he smiled. "Well, no matter. Let's go get ourselves some food, shall we?"

Marcia's tail sprang up in excitement, wagging. "Oh thank you, Sir Nick!" she cheered, pumping a fist in the air and bounding after him exuberantly.

Hours later

After returning to town to clean up, they chatted up the innkeeper about potential destinations. After his initial skepticism and then shock at their claim that they'd destroyed the Dungeon, the man directed them to the north, where a much larger town was situated. It wasn't on the scale of the capital, but there was definitely a developed economy. "If ya picked up anything worth selling, you'd best take it there," he told them, "We don't have much need for jewels an' such 'round here."

"Yeah, that's what I figured," concurred Nick, "Much obliged. We'll probably hit the road now, then. If you got any fresh fruit, that will be nice to have for the trip."

"Oh sure. Just go down the road here to Millie's, tell her I sent ya, you should get a good price! Have a safe journey!"

Nick and Marcia waved and headed out. The giant wolf girl skipped along happily next to the Legendary Hero, while the bowman thought about what else he could use from the dungeon treasure. Idly, he reached into his pocket, where he felt a particular object. _If nothing else, I still have this from the CYOAs,_ he thought.

TBH

She stumbled along, leaning heavily against tree trunks and clambering over roots. Her heart was thundering in her ears, and her lungs burned as she gasped for air, in between agonizing coughs. She could barely see where she was going, her vision was so blurred, and her legs felt like they were just seconds away from turning to jelly.

Had anyone seen her? Was she being pursued? When would they catch her? Would they just kill her when they did?

Only the tiny flag clenched in her fist kept those questions from sapping the last of her strength from her limbs.

TBH

Crouching down for a moment, Nick took aim with his crossbow, closing an eye as he lined up his shot. Then he pulled the trigger.

_*TUNK!*_

The bolt blasted from his weapon, streaking through the air to strike the distant boulder-sized bee-hive, which clung to the trunks of several trees.

Thanks to the crossbow's Sniper skill, the damage of his attacks would increase dramatically the further away he was from his target. As a result, the projectile slammed into the nest with tremendous force. The beehive shattered utterly, the monstrous larva and a majority of the workers not surviving the explosion. If it weren't for the fact that these were clearly monsters, he might have almost felt bad for destroying such a thriving hub of life.

But then bees the size of crows were swarming them, and Marcia was howling, swinging left and right, unleashing blast after blast of ice that felled swaths of them. Likewise, as his weapon pulled back automatically, a fresh Evanescent bolt materializing in the barrel, he took aim and unleashed an Erst Barrage. Fortunately, the decrease in Firing Speed didn't seem to affect the skill, as a cone of blue-green blasts shot forth in a satisfyingly rapid stream, nailing dozens of the insects out of the air.

By the time it was all over, he and Marcia had gained yet another level, and were well on their way to the next. Nick sat down on a root and pulled out his journal, leafing through it to confirm the newest jump in his and Marcia's stats. He let out an exhale. "Movin' right along, we are," he commented. Having mastered the crossbow with his latest level, he switched over to the Verdant Shortbow, a stout but visually striking weapon, colored bright green and embossed with silvery, leafed vines. The Recovery Shot skill that came with it seemed like it might come in handy. Unfortunately, the RES stat was involved in the use of healing, and Nick's RES was troublingly low. _Maybe the shot works based on the target's RES instead,_ he thought with no real hope, grimacing. At the very least, the bow gave a decent boost to his already ridiculous SPD, and a MASSIVE increase to his HP.

Nick Ward  
Level 7  
HP: 1245 (+56)  
MP: 7116 (+82)  
SP: 214  
ATK: 1195  
DEF: 11 (+24)  
HIT: 1817  
SPD: 1960  
INT: 342  
RES: 26

Marcia Niado  
Level 7  
HP: 1289  
MP: 100  
ATK: 675 (+75)  
DEF: 1992 (+300)  
HIT: 540  
SPD: 71  
INT: 97  
RES: 1161 (+100)

Nick hummed happily as he snapped the book and pulled an apple from his pouch. Seeing Marcia walking over and sitting down, he gave her a peach, which she eagerly bit into, her feathery dog-tail swishing in contentment. "As always, I can never tell if it's good that these numbers are so high," he commented, frowning.

"Whatcha mean?" asked his companion, slurping up peach juices.

As he opened his mouth to answer, a thought occurred to him. "Marcia, you can look at your Status, right?"

"Uh-huh! Everyone learns how when they're kids."

"Right. Look at your stats and tell me if those numbers seem high or low to you."

She cocked her head at him, but her eyes flicked up and to the left. "Mm. Now that you mention it, I've been leveling up a lot lately…EH?!" She shot up to her full height, eyes widening comically, "Wh-wh-what's with these stats?! I've always had some big numbers, but this is huge! I-is this normal?! No wonder those bees didn't even scratch me…"

"So it's unusual for this world?" asked Nick.

"I-I dunno…I think so…?" she mumbled, sitting back down. "M-maybe? I think we're strong, though."

"I hope that's all it is," he sighed, "Because the alternative is that the Waves will bring monsters powerful enough that we NEED stats this high."

Marcia froze at this line of thought. "I-I'll protect you, if I have to, Sir Nick," she told him, clearly trying to reassure both of them, "But…what do you think we should do?"

Nick thought for a moment, biting into his apple. "We keep journeying, of course. If that swamp dungeon is anything to go by, there should be lots of good new Bows for me to unlock, and better equipment to arm ourselves. In addition, it might be good if we get ourselves more party members. The ones that first joined me in the capital were no good and ditched me, but there's something to be said for strength in numbers."

"Why did they ditch you?" Marcia asked.

"I defended the Shield Hero, and basically called out the king on his bullshit. They took issue with that, and chose not to support me." He shrugged. "Given that I'd only been grinding for a day, it's no great loss."

Marcia hummed and continued to munch happily on her fruit. A snapping twig sounded through her ears and she snapped towards the sound. Staggering towards her was a frail-looking girl who looked ready to drop over dead. She was wearing a tattered set of rags, so stained with dirt and grime that it was impossible to tell what color it once had been, and a set of manacles rattled on her almost skeletally-thin, raw wrists. A pair of rounded ears sprouted from the top of her head, and a smooth, but dirty tail drooped behind her. Her matted hair was brown, and through her bangs, they could make out a pair of hazy red eyes. She stopped in her tracks and looked around at them both. Then, without a word, she collapsed to the ground.

"S-Sir Nick! This girl looks like she's been starved to death! We need to help her!"

Nick was already pulling out some oranges and carefully peeled it and pulled it apart. Marcia scooped up the girl and brought her over. Once laid down, the dire-wolf girl turned to her master. "She's burning up. I think she has an infection! If we don't do something…"

Nick didn't need to be told twice. "Stay with her. I'll go find herbs," he told her, standing up. Quickly looking through his Journal, he remembered that the Blue and Green Mushroom arrows that he'd picked up gave him the ability to create simple concoctions. Focusing on that skill, he found that he could recall the ingredients necessary to make a simple fever-reducing medicine.

Fortunately, with the Plant Appraisal skill, it was easy enough to locate the ones he needed. Gathering them up, he pulled out the Green Mushroom arrow and popped the cap off. Immediately it expanded, widening and hardening into a bowl with the consistency of hardened clay, while the remainder of the arrow transformed into a pestle. He quickly dumped the ingredients in and began to pound the ingredients into a fine mint-colored mixture. Pouring some of their water in to allow for easier digestion, he finally finished the green concoction. "Alright, this should do the trick. Prop her up."

Nodding, Marcia did so, gently raising the raggedly-breathing Demi-human child. Carefully, he opened her mouth, her lips terribly dry and chapped, and slowly trickled the medicine inside. He stopped when she began coughing, her body jolting, and something struck him as familiar about the image. However, once she stopped, he resumed, patiently administering the medicine until it was all gone.

Once it was all gone, the little girl cracked her eyes open. Blearily, she saw Nick looking over her before she closed them again.

"I think she'll be fine now. But whatever happened to this girl, her environment must've been awful for her to get sick like this." Glancing down at the manacles on her wrists, Nick scowled.

Marcia laid the poor girl down. Noticing that the girl's hand was clenched around something, she gently prodded it open, revealing a tiny, battered white flag, cobbled together from a stick and a scrap of cloth.

"Leave that," Nick told her, "Whatever it is, the fact that she still has it means that she'd die for it."

Marcia nodded and moved to make the little girl more comfortable while she rested. "What happened to her?"

"Nothing good," Nick muttered staring at the girl. "Maybe I can kick start her healing cause I don't know if we can get her to a proper healer in time." He pulled out one of his gems and carefully considered it. If he was right, this could lead to some major breakthroughs in his efforts to strengthen the party. Gingerly, he reached out and touched the young demi-human's forehead, wincing at the heat it gave off. **"Socket."**

There came a small pulse, but the girl's breathing, ragged as it was, didn't change as a single Socket opened in the air above her chest.

_So living beings can be Socketed,_ thought Nick, looking down at the Verdant Seed in his free hand. _So far, it seems that the quality, size, and condition of an object determines how many Sockets it'll have. If this girl has only one, then any later and it might have been too late._ Bringing the gem to his forehead, he closed his eyes and murmured, "Give this girl the strength she needs to keep going, and the healing needed to fight back."

_*Ktink!*_

The gem slotted neatly into the socket and vanished. The young girl's body glowed slightly, and she stirred, mumbling, but didn't wake up. However, the feverish pallor in her face died down considerably, and her breathing became much less labored. As she shifted, her ragged shift rode down slightly, and Nick caught a glimpse of a purple sigil etched into her skin. _That looks familiar…_ Frowning, he pulled the Journal out again and began leafing through it, trying to remember where he'd seen it. His brow furrowed when he found it.

Slave Crest.

_This girl is an escaped slave._

Well, that settled what they would do with her. "Alright. Let's wait until she wakes up," he decided firmly, "Then we're taking her and heading back to the capital."

"Eh?" asked the dark-skinned giant dog girl, "Why? I thought we were heading further north."

"Yeah, we'll need to postpone that," sighed the Hero, "My medicine seems to be doing the trick for now, but this girl is a slave. That means that whoever her…_owner_ is, they might have the ability to punish her from a distance, maybe even kill her, as long as she's got this crest on. We need to take her to the Slave Trader in the capital so that he can remove it."

Marcia's eyes widened. "Eh? _Eh?_ Slave? What?"

"Yeah, the mark here is a Slave Crest. I don't know how to remove these, but I do know who might."

However, they still had to wait, as the mystery girl still had not awoken. So Nick began gathering up all the monster bees that they'd killed, as well as the fragments of their broken nest.

Beehive Longbow Unlocked!  
Rarity: Common  
Abilities: Hive Shot  
Type Bonus: +5 HIT  
Sockets: 2

Numbing Poison Coating Unlocked!  
SP Cost: 25  
Effect: SPD Down (Small)  
HIT Down (Small)

Nodding in satisfaction, he kept on absorbing the bees.

Coating Efficiency Increased.

Nick blinked, then quickly pulled up the HUD for the skill. Sure enough, the SP cost had gone down by one. _Wait, so absorbing more of the materials for coatings lowers the cost?_ He thought back to the Parashrooms down in the swamp Dungeon, which he had largely passed over after unlocking their coating. His Compounding recipes hadn't had a need for them, so he'd decided against collecting them. He groaned. _Well, shit._

Sighing regretfully, he kept absorbing the bees, until finally the cost of his new coating dropped to 1 and stopped there. "Alright, so there's a minimum cost for things like this," he commented, standing up.

Looking over at the girls, he sighed and went back into the woods to gather firewood for the night, then got back to making more medicine. Marcia kept a vigil over the young slave girl, anxiously watching to make sure she slept well.

TBH

She really hadn't expected to wake up again, but she did. The soreness of her legs and back, not to mention the throbbing in her head, left her little choice. The cool morning air was a shock to her, yet at the same time impossibly soothing. She basked in it, unwilling to open her eyes; the last time she'd felt a breeze anywhere near like this since she was captured. _Is...this what heaven is like? Mama, papa...Raphtalia…" _Her hand squeezed the flag. _Ah…so I'm still alive. You're right, Raphtalia. If I'm here, then our village will come back someday._

She opened her eyes blearily, to see a hulking shape looming over her. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a hoarse squeak before she rolled off whatever she was sleeping on, landing on the dirt floor with a thud. This set off a coughing fit.

"Ah, good morning!" A cheery female voice chimed in. Still panting with shock, she looked up to realize that the figure that had frightened her was a large woman, with a surprisingly round, young-looking face. "You scared us when you came into our camp. We thought you were gonna die. Thankfully, Sir Nick helped you."

Blinking, she gazed around and realized that there was, in fact, a man seated next to the remains of a fire. He was dressed in a collection of eclectically colored leather armor, with a bright yellow scarf around the lower half of his face. What little she could see was rough and weathered-looking, and his salt and pepper hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. A bright green bow was slung over his shoulder. Realizing that she was still on the ground, she quickly scrambled upright, only to stumble and sway.

"Careful!" said the huge woman, moving with surprising speed to keep her upright, "Sir Nick said that you're still really sick, so you'll need medicine."

"Medi…cine?" she asked, her voice cracked and dry. She spied several bowls of dark green fluid next to the man's lap.

"Yeah, exactly! Hey, Sir Nick! She's awake!"

The young girl flinched, eyes widening in trepidation as the man- who she now realized was a human -stirred.

"Not so loud, Marcia," grumbled the man in a deep voice, opening his deep-set gray eyes, "'s too early…ah. It's you." Without preamble, he picked up one of the green bowls at his feet and held it out. "Take it. Probably doesn't taste all that great, medicine seldom does."

The young girl gazed down at her bowl. Her stomach growled, making her cringe self-consciously. Not wanting it to get snatched away if she was too slow, she quickly gulped it down, although her face distorted and it took some effort to actually swallow it. She coughed once it was gone, but this time, it was a smoother cough.

"No one's gonna take it from you," Nick assured her. "We're not your…we're not whoever you were running from." He held up an apple. "Here, bet you're hungry. It's the best we got till we get back to town."

She took it, quickly chomping into it, and voraciously devouring it, almost eating even the core. Marcia giggled. "Hungry huh?"

The girl hesitantly nodded. Then, finally, she spoke. "I…I know you're not with them." She started coughing again.

Nick smiled slightly, telling her, "Don't need to force yourself."

She shook her head.

"Alright then. You got a name?"

"R…Rifana."

'Well then Rifana, I hope you don't mind traveling with us to the capital. We can get you looked at there, get that slave crest off of you."

Rifana's eyes widened. "Re…move?" she asked, her free hand drifting to her chest. "You would…do that?"

Nick nodded. "I would. The enslavement of another person is a crime that must never be condoned. So I'll remove the mark that binds you to someone else."

She stared at him, her eyes burning and welling up with tears. Then she fell to her knees, sobbing. _Thank you, god…thank you for sending this person. But…why couldn't I have gotten away sooner? Then Raphtalia could be free too…_

TBH

"The Bow Hero…?" Rifana asked hoarsely.

"Yep! Sir Nick is one of the Four Legendary Heroes! There's also the Sword, Shield and Spear Heroes!" Marcia said excitedly.

The smaller Demi-human looked at her askance. "Yes. I know that. I'm just surprised that…nevermind."

She'd always grown up on stories about the Shield Hero, friend to all Demi-humans and righteous to a fault. Of course, tales of the other three Heroes had been told in her village as well, but without any real reverence. Rifana chanced a glance at Nick, who had kept largely quiet. While his sharp gaze initially intimidated her, there was nothing specifically unkind about him.

"You alright walking?" he asked, noticing her look, "We can carry you if you get tired."

She flinched, looking away. "Th-that's okay…"

He hummed, watching her for a moment. "Those shackles probably aren't helping any, but we don't really have anything that can get them off you yet."

"Un."

There followed a long silence. Eventually, he turned to the little girl. "If you don't mind my asking, do you know where you escaped from?"

She shook her head, a thrill of fear running through her. He wouldn't sell her back to that man, would he?

"Damn. Could you describe the one who tormented you the most?"

Rifana blinked, then flinched automatically. Phantom pains lanced across her back, but for some reason, the welts from her whipping was much, much less painful than she remembered. She looked up to see Nick watching her with concern.

"That reflex was trained into you. Tells me plenty, even if you don't want to talk about it."

Rifana stared up at Nick, wide-eyed. Then, haltingly, she said, "He was…a big man. With a mustache. When our village was destroyed, soldiers rounded us up and…sold us to him. He liked whipping us, all the time." She shuddered, curling in on herself. "Over time, we took turns digging a way out of where they kept us. By the time it was done, though…" Tears welled up in her eyes. "I was the only one in the cell, and I was sick…I should have waited for the others to be brought back. We could have all escaped, but…"

"But you wanted to be free," Nick finished for her, gently, "And you couldn't take it anymore."

"I'm a coward…"

Marcia flinched.

"Who can say?" asked the Hero, shrugging, "Fear and desperation are some of the rawest things you can feel, especially if you were sick."

"But I still left them behind."

He nodded. "You did. But you want to know something?"

She looked up at him.

"A coward would've made excuses. Do you want to go back for them?"

"Y-yes! I do! But-"

"Then when we find out who that man is, we will go after him."

"...Eh?" she rasped out, wincing at her still-sore throat.

Marcia spoke up with a strident, "Yes! Keeping slaves only to hurt them is unforgivable!"

"It is," Nick concurred evenly, but Rifana could see a steely glint in his eye, "Slavery is an evil that must never be condoned."

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of the young girl's mouth. "You really are a Hero, aren't you?" she murmured.

"I'd say that even if I weren't."

TBH

When they finally arrived back at the capital, two days later, Rifana had started to show her more energetic side. With every dose of medicine she took, not to mention all the fruit she scarfed down, her ill pallor faded away. Marcia had taken to carrying the girl on her broad shoulders, the young slave blushing faintly. Any monsters that came into view were shot down in an instant by Nick, so that his party member wouldn't have to set down their guest. Finally, about mid day they reached the capital. The guards recognized Nick and saluted the two as they walked past the gate.

Using his mental map, he gestured for his companion to follow him, the crowd parting before the behemoth of a Demi-human. Of course, due to that, it was pretty much impossible to remain discreet. Sighing, he led her and Rifana into an alleyway, using his knowledge from his previous exploration of the town to quickly lose the crowd, before heading for Beloukas's tent. Soon enough, they found the large, gaudy thing.

"Oho?" The portly slave trader grinned widely as he spotted them. "Well now, I wasn't expecting you back so soon. How may I assist you, Sir Hero? Have you changed your mind about making a purchase? Ah, but no, I see that you are not lacking for companions."

Nick grunted. "Hardly. Are you able to remove Slave Crests?"

The egg-shaped man cocked his head, his bespectacled gaze passing over Rifana, who shuddered and hid behind Marcia, who frowned back at him. "I am indeed. It'll cost you a fair amount, though; the removal process requires materials that are a little harder to come by than with the application.

"We just looted a dungeon, so money is no object," Nick replied.

"Ohoho! Music to my ears, good sir!"

"Oh, and something to get these shackles off her."

As they stepped inside, Rifana began to tremble, stopping in her tracks only to force herself forward. Nick knelt by her, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay," he told her gently. "He's gonna make sure the man who did this can't just order you back."

"But what happens after that?"

He smiled under his scarf. "Whatever you want to happen."

She looked down, shuffling nervously. Opening her fingers, she gazed at the flag still clenched in her hand.

"Here it is!" said Beloukas, bustling back into view with a vial of what looked like water, "Slave Crest-removing holy water. The church doesn't like producing it, but everyone has their price. Speaking of which, mine is ten gold."

"Of course it is," Nick acknowledged dryly, fishing a ten-gold coin out of his pocket and flipping it over. In exchange, the slave merchant readily handed over the small bottle.

"Just a few drops ought to do it, Sir Hero."

Said Hero turned back to the young slave, who pulled at her ragged neckline to expose her seal. As instructed, Nick dripped the water onto her skin, where it hissed and steamed, and although she flinched, she did not seem pained by the phenomenon. The purple mark drawn on her chest shimmered for a moment, then faded away, leaving nothing behind.

Rifana took a deep, shuddering breath, her eyes filling with tears. "It's…it's really gone…" she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Marcia swept her up into a hug, squealing quietly. "You're free now, Rifana!" she told her.

"Free? You mean I can do what I want?" murmured the smaller Demi-human, her tail lifting, only to "This...is a dream right? I'm gonna wake up in my cell in the manor and I'll be whipped…right?"

The dire-wolf girl's eyes widened. "Wh-what? No, that's-!"

"M-maybe Raphtalia will be there when I wake up…"

Nick, who had been about to pour the remaining holy water into his bow, froze. "Raphtalia?"

"Yes…Raphtalia was always the strongest one of us," said Rifana, tears streaming down her cheeks, "When the Wave destroyed our village, s-she told us that our flag would fly again one day! B-b-but she got taken away! And I had to run! I'm such a coward, e-everyone I cared about was left b-behind…"

Marcia squeezed her even tighter, making Rifana bury her face in her shoulder with a sob.

'Take her out of here,' Nick mouthed to her, gesturing around at the dreary interior of the slave tent. Realizing what he meant, Marcia quickly retreated, leaving the Bow Hero alone with Beloukas. As he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, Nick spotted something out of the corner of his eye. A purple box, lined with velvet and filled with rows of eggs. "Oi. What're those?" he asked, pointing them out.

The trader looked around as well. "Ah, those are a bit of a side project I use to bring in just a little more coin." His ever-present grin widened. "Are you interested?"

"Depends on what it is. Do I need to pay for the information?"

Beloukas laughed. "Of course not! I'm not THAT greedy! But this is what I call my Egg Lottery. You see, while these eggs might all look the same, their contents are not equal. For one hundred silver coins, one of these eggs is yours for the taking. At the very least, it will hatch into a Filorial, but if you're extremely lucky, you might get a dragon, worth its weight in gold!"

Nick's brow furrowed, and he turned to give the box his undivided attention. "...Alright, slaver, I'll admit you've got me interested. One hundred silver, you say?"

"No more or less," promised the egg-shaped man, chuckling.

Eyes narrowing in thought, the Hero fished out the required silver. "Don't ever say I never did anything for you," he grunted, striding over to the box.

"You? Never!"

Sighing, Nick looked down at the selection of eggs. There were twelve of them in total, each one identical, white and larger than his fist, their shells marked with a miniature Slave Crest. He activated the Mantle of Chiron, but no symbols appeared. Frowning, he reached out, lightly touching one egg.

A symbol materialized in his vision, showing a series of blue feathers. Not wanting to choose lightly, he moved on to the next one, receiving a reptilian claw. _So, a bird and some sort of…lizard. Could that be the dragon? Hm. Let's see what the others are like._

He moved from one egg to the next, noting the symbols that appeared each time, mostly more clusters of feathers and claws, but a couple of unusual ones, like pools of liquid or a collar.

The moment he touched the tenth egg, he knew that it was The One.

As his fingertip made contact with the eggshell, the tent fell away, and an almighty blizzard battered at his senses. A dark, bleak wasteland stretched out as far as the eye could see, the horizon broken by mountains of solid ice.

He stumbled back, buffeted by phantom winds, and the vision was gone, leaving him back in the tent. The hand that had touched the egg shook, bitten by bitter cold, and as he let out the breath he had held at that moment, he was startled to find that it came out as a vaporous cloud.

"...I'll take that one," he said shortly, plucking out the tenth egg, this time with his skill deactivated.

If Beloukas realized what he'd done, he didn't show it, holding up a cushioned case with a clear glass top. "Keep it in this, Sir Hero. It is enchanted to incubate the egg depending on its species. I don't know which one you chose, so I can't say when it might hatch."

He grunted in thanks, gratefully plopping the egg inside and enclosing it. Then he turned and strolled out of the tent.

Whatever was inside that egg, it would grow up to be dangerous. And when it did, it would be best for it to do so where he could keep an eye on it.

TBH

He found Marcia and Rifana outside at the entrance to the alley that led to the tent, the younger girl sitting on a box, hunched over. "How are you doing?" he asked her.

She looked up at him, taking in the sight of the egg without comment. "I'm…better," she murmured, "Just a little."

"I'm glad."

She gave a tiny smile. "I never thought that it would be a Hero besides the Shield who would set me free."

Marcia giggled. "Sir Nick isn't the Shield Hero, but he's pretty good in his own right, yeah?"

"I'll take that as a compliment," he replied dryly.

Rifana actually blushed. "W-well, to tell the truth…I always thought that if I ever met the Shield Hero, I'd…" Then she shook her head, turning even redder. "N-n-nevermind! Forget it!"

Nick snorted. "If you insist." Then he grew serious for a moment. "Also, there is something you should know: I have seen your friend, Raphtalia."

The young Demi-human shot to her feet. "What?! You have?!" she cried, hope glinting in her eyes, "D-do you know where she is?"

"Not at the moment, no," he denied, making her droop, "But I do know who her master is."

Her eyes narrowed, and her jaw set, the news that her friend might be a slave putting some steel into her voice. "Who is it?" Left unsaid was what she would do with the information.

"Don't worry," chuckled Nick, to her confusion, "She is in good hands; her master is the Shield Hero."

Rifana reeled back, utterly stunned by this revelation. Nor was she the only one. "What?" gasped Marcia, astonished. "The Shield Hero has a slave? Why?"

Nick sighed. "Unlike me, Naofumi is unable to fight and defeat monsters on his own," he said, "Thus, he has Raphtalia fight in his stead, while he uses his abilities to protect her from harm."

"She's fighting?" Rifana asked anxiously, "She can't fight; she's like me!"

Marcia scratched herself under the ear, making it twitch. "Nn, I mean, there's lots and lots of small, weak monsters out there. If the Shield is as tough as me, then it'd be easy for him to hold 'em still while she finishes 'em off and gets EXP."

"Where there's a will, there's a way," added the Bow Hero, "I don't know the criteria for who gets summoned as a Hero, but I believe that Naofumi has what it takes to survive, keep Raphtalia safe and to grow."

Rifana bit her lip, shivering. "And…then you'll fight the Waves?" she asked in a small voice.

"We will," he confirmed firmly.

She nodded, bowing her head in thought. "Then…I would like to fight as well."

"What?" gasped Marcia, "Are you sure? You just got freed from slavery, you can go anywhere-"

"But I don't have anywhere _to_ go now," said the younger Demi-human quietly, "My home was destroyed by the Wave, and then ransacked by soldiers from the capital."

Nick sucked in a breath, taken aback by that bombshell. _This kingdom's problems go even deeper than I thought._

"That's why, I want to help you defeat them!" she continued, voice rising as she gazed up at him, "Please, Sir Nick, help me get strong, so that I can fight and make things easier for Raphtalia!"

Nick watched her for a moment, scanning her face. She was being genuine, but of course, he didn't doubt that for a second. Then he activated the Mantle of Chiron again. Shimmering into view over her head was the image of a silvery glove, holding a set of knives between its fingers. "Very well," he said, nodding, "It might take a bit of doing to train you up, but I've got a skill to help speed it along."

She nodded resolutely.

Rifana has joined your party.

TBH

"I didn't think I'd see ya back so soon," commented Erhardt, leaning on the counter as Nick picked out armor, "It's been what, a week or two? And you picked up two Demi-humans?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" asked Nick lightly, frowning as he examined a set of light leather armor, "You got anything in Rifana's size?"

"Eh, gimme a little bit and I can whip something up," replied the armorer, shrugging, "And nah, I don't mind it. Just surprised; I thought Demi-humans favored the Shield Hero over the others, kinda like the church here worships the Three Heroes."

Marcia huffed, clanking around in a suit of plate mail. "I'm plenty tough already, so I don't need the Shield Hero protecting me. I wanna be the one to protect people, so I joined Sir Nick 'cause he's squishy! Nnh, this armor is kinda tight."

"It was designed for someone normal-sized!" groaned Erhardt, "I'll make you something as well!"

"What do you think of those?" Nick asked Rifana, pointing out a pair of daggers. She padded over to the shelf and picked on up gingerly, turning it over in her small hands.

"Um…it's not bad? I've never held a weapon before."

"Mm, true. Just pick two that feel good in your hands, but maybe a little big so that you can grow into 'em. Oi, Erhardt, I'll also take a couple sets of throwing knives for her."

The bald, scarred man raised an eyebrow. "You sure? Those things take a lotta skill to use."

"Yeah, don't worry. Let's just say I've got a feeling they'll suit her well."

He shrugged. "Your coin, Bowman."

"Don't you worry, we've got coin to spare. Marcia and I went into one of the old Dungeons and hit a real payload."

"No kiddin'? I hear those can be tough for low-level adventurers."

Nick shrugged, leaning against the counter. "This one wasn't. Or at least, the only danger was how many damn leeches there were. But we got through it alright. The Dungeon actually flooded and vanished after we left it. Know anything about that?"

Erhardt blinked. "Vanished? Huh, can't say I have. Then again, hardly anyone ever tries going into a Dungeon once the Heroes kill the boss and make off with the big treasures."

"How big?"

"Ah, y'know, I've only heard stories, but I'm talkin' some majorly powerful magic items and weapons, rare jewels and super intricate pieces. Stuff that'd have you rollin' in it for life if the Heroes didn't use it to revitalize the parts of the kingdom that get torn up." Erhardt sighed. "The worst part about the Waves is, when a Dungeon forms, it totally screws up the landscape and ruins maps, making people have to take different, more dangerous routes. If you think it's possible to make the old ruins disappear, Bowman…I wish ya all the luck in the world."

Nick nodded and waited for the girls to finish changing back. _I should probably get Rifana some better clothes as well,_ he thought, carefully bundling up the new weapons and gesturing for his companions to follow him.

In comparison to the armor, getting Rifana a light blue tunic and long gray skirt that fit her size was much easier. The younger girl gave a shaky smile as she took in her new look, bolstered by Marcia beaming at her. "T-thank you."

"No problem. Now let's see if we can't find you a teacher."

She blinked. "A teacher?"

He snorted at her cutely confused look. "Regrettably, I can't directly show you how to use those knives myself. I can't pick up other weapons besides this bow."

Rifana nodded in understanding.

The three left the clothing shop and began to ask around. Nick had just the person in mind to help Rifana. A little bit of digging later, they encountered him in a tavern near the castle.

"Looking well, Gerrick," Nick addressed him from behind.

"Eh? Whaddya wan-?" The oily, gangly man swiveled about on his barstool, looking sour, only to pale at the sight of the Bow Hero. "...Y-y-y-you!" he gasped.

Nick smiled, his eyes flinty. "Good, good, so you remember me."

"Ah, uh, yeah, that I do, Sir Hero," stammered the thief, bowing his head quickly while subtly getting to his feet, "W-well, I'd love ta chat an' all, but y'know, lots ta do!"

Nick's hand snapped out, snagging the man's collar. "Is that so?" he asked casually, "I find it difficult to believe that a man like you wouldn't have some free time, since you're not in my party anymore."

"Ah, you know this smelly man, Sir Nick?" asked Marcia brightly. The tavern's patrons were giving the mountain of a girl a wide berth, though she seemed to not notice. It helped to ensure that nobody listened to closely to their conversation.

"Oh yes," he replied with equal cheer, "This man was one of my party members, until he decided to bail on me when I spoke out against the Shield Hero's treatment."

Immediately the wolf-girl's gaze sharpened.

Gerrick gave an undignified squeal. "O' course I did!" he protested, "The Shield Hero raped th' Princess! We all know he's the devil."

"We all," Nick indicated himself, Marcia and Rifana, _"Know_ nothing of the sort. What, were you afraid of a little dent in your reputation to work with a Hero who doesn't follow your religion? Ah, that would probably have been Deaurep, now that I think about it. But we're not here to talk about any past abandonments."

"Y...yer not?" asked the wiry man.

"Oh no. We're here for something more useful. You know how to use a dagger and throw knives, yes?"

Gerrick nodded cautiously, looking wary. "Yeah…why? You're not gonna drag me out ta th' Dungeons ta fight for ya, are ya?!"

Nick scoffed. "Certainly not." He pointed to Rifana. "You'll be teaching her how to fight."

"O-oi, you can't just expect me ta give lessons to a Demi-brat!"

"Hm…it seems that I do. Therefore, I clearly can."

"You think that ya can make me? I'll kill you here!"

"Oh wow, you must be _really_ drunk. Now see, if I was the Shield Hero, you would probably get away with threatening me. Since I'm the Bow Hero, you're gonna want to rethink that, chum. Now, I hate to throw my status around without due cause, but if you're denying one of the legendary heroes training…"

The man's face reddened. "Tch. Just like you fancy types. The moment someone like me becomes useful, you sink your claws in and don't let go."

"Are you attempting to make me look like some sort of prejudiced nobleman? No no no. I'm just a bowman who wants to make sure a small child can defend herself."

"I ain't doin' a thing for free, and even if I did-!"

"Oh, speaking of, how much _were_ you paid to join me?" Nick asked suddenly, making Gerrick freeze, "Because I don't imagine it was a lot up front. They probably figured you'd stick with me and earn more that way. Shows what they know, doesn't it?"

"Five hundred silver!" hissed the thief, his gaze flicking towards the counter, where his half-empty mug still stood, "I learned the knives meself! If your little rat-child cuts 'erself tryin' ta copy me, I won't put up with any bellyachin'!"

"That's just robbery!" protested Rifana, glaring up at him.

"And she talks back too! What a sorry little beast you dredged up, eh?"

Nick's eyes narrowed, and Gerrick suddenly became very aware of a crossbow being pressed against his ribs, hidden from the rest of the crowd by the Hero's body. Even with the scarf hiding his mouth, there was absolutely nothing that he needed to say to get his point across. Rifana was free to speak as she wished. Gerrick was not.

"Hey, Sir Nick!" said Marcia suddenly, "Why don't you use a crystal ball to record him? I heard that you can watch anything stored in it over and over again."

Nick perked up. "Splendid idea!" He smiled at Gerrick, who flinched. "You're lucky that I had a windfall from the _Dungeons,_ Gerrick. I won't even haggle for it; five hundred silver buys your skills."

"Tch! Don't think you can get a good fighter outta some recording…!" mumbled the defanged thief, fighting to keep a tremor out of his voice.

The Bow Hero smiled. "Don't you worry about that, my good man. I just need someone to show her how to hold and throw them, since I can't myself. My Mantle will do the rest."

As Nick dragged Gerrick from the bar, the two Demi-humans trailed behind him. "Sir Nick can be kinda scary…" murmured Marcia.

Rifana shook her head. "A little…but against someone like that, I think there's no one better suited to being a Hero…"

TBH

**AN:** And so we bring another chapter to a close. Nick has drawn to him another person of great potential, to grow and prosper under his guidance.

Stats!

Nick Ward  
Level 7  
HP: 1245 (+56)  
MP: 7116 (+82)  
SP: 214  
ATK: 1195  
DEF: 11 (+24)  
HIT: 1817  
SPD: 1960  
INT: 342  
RES: 26

Marcia Niado  
Level 7  
HP: 1289  
MP: 100  
ATK: 675 (+75)  
DEF: 1992 (+300)  
HIT: 540  
SPD: 71  
INT: 97  
RES: 1161 (+100)

Rifana  
Class: N/A  
Subclass: None  
Race: Demi-human (Weasel)  
Sockets: 1 (Verdant Seed)  
Level 1  
HP: 30  
MP: 14  
ATK: 10  
DEF: 8  
HIT: 12  
SPD: 18  
INT: 12  
RES: 10

To those of you who are reading this on FF, I have recently started an AO3 account, which this fic has been uploaded on.

As always, if you have any questions, leave a review or send a PM.

North South out.


End file.
